


Mastermind

by JenniR



Category: Actor RPF
Genre: Assault, F/M, trigger warning: attempted rape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:07:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 50,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28621518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenniR/pseuds/JenniR
Summary: Balthazar Getty meets Kai Porter on the set of a new show called "Mastermind".  But their friendship deepens after Kai comes to him for safety after her ex-boyfriend attacks her.
Relationships: Balthazar Getty/OFC





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So there isn't much smut in this story (even though that's what I'm good at, lol). But this story grabbed hold of me and wouldn't let go.  
> I hope you like it, please be gentle.  
> :)

Kai Porter knew she was lucky, ridiculously so. She had lived in L.A. all her life. It had changed over the years, but one thing had stayed the same: young men and women came from all over the world to become “famous”. 90% went back home within a year with their tail between their legs. 5% went back home within two years. 3% got regular jobs and gave up on show business altogether. 1.5% ended up on the streets, doing whatever they needed to survive. And then there was that 0.5% that made it. The lucky few.  
Kai was one of the lucky few, by a total fluke.  
She saw an ad in the paper, for a “cattle call”. They were looking for a woman in her 40’s for an untitled TV pilot. The only thing Kai had ever done professionally was to be in the background of a few movies and TV shows, never even a speaking role. Just a few bucks and the tiny thrill of seeing herself on TV or in a movie sitting in the background or walking by in the rear of the shot. But something told her to take a chance.  
The audition waiting room was a joke: a bunch of bleached blonde starlets in their late teens and early 20’s trying to pretend they could be in their 40’s. For once, their youth was working against them. Just a few women who were actually in their 40’s.  
The producers were dead serious about wanting an older woman. A girl would get called in, and if she was young, the door barely had time to close behind her before she was leaving again.  
They called Kai’s name, and in she went. They asked her a few questions, mostly just if she had any previous experience. Then they put a script in her hands, and asked her to read a part. It was some monologue from a woman who was explaining to her adult children why she was going back to college. She took a deep breath and gave it her best. The people she read for had complete poker faces, thanking her when she was done, and telling her that they would be in touch.  
Kai went home and got back to her life. But a week later, she got a call on her cell phone. It was the producers that she had read for, asking if she could come in and read again.  
She showed up, and this time read a different passage with a young actor who would read the part of the adult son.   
Again, the producers had poker faces.  
Again, Kai got back to her life.  
Three weeks later she got a call.

They wanted her for the show.

The show was called “Mastermind”. It was about a single mother named Annie Master with two adult children. She had fallen in love as a young college student and had abandoned her dream of getting a Masters degree in healthcare to get married and have kids. Her husband had died tragically, leaving her a single mom with two children. She had spent her life raising and caring for them. Now that they were out on their own, she decided to go back and achieve her dream. Kai loved the plot.  
The bookstore that she worked at threw her a huge party. She kind of hated it, as not all pilots got picked up, and she might end up back at the store. Her boss promised her she could have her job back if it didn’t work out.

She needn’t have worried.  
“Mastermind” was a hit right out of the gate.  
Kai was famous practically overnight.  
It was insane.

She had to move not long after the show debuted. She lived in a random apartment, and the public found out. Next thing she knew the place was crawling with fans, photographers, and assorted riff raff. She was worried about breaking her lease, but with all the hubbub, the management was happy to let her go without a problem.  
She moved into a more secure (and much more expensive) apartment. Even if fans found out, and they eventually did, they wouldn’t be able to get past the front gates, not to mention the roaming security guards on the grounds. They were like Fort Knox in that place.

Kai made friends with her co-stars, guest stars, and the crew. She had always been a friendly, likeable person, and being “popular” as she called it, hadn’t changed her. She was always ready to redo a scene or stick around if they thought they might need her, waiting around on set as opposed to hiding in her dressing room. She was friendly to cast, crew and especially extras, having been one herself until just recently.

Her life was playing out beautifully.  
And then she met Steve.

Steve Murphy was a movie actor. Most of his movies hadn’t done too well, but he was so sexy, it wasn’t hurting his career. He was still getting roles. He had dark good looks, an Irish accent, and was so attractive that even guys said “Damn” when he entered a room. He had been a known womanizer in his younger years, but had recently been quoted as wanting to finally settle down.  
Kai met Steve at one of those ridiculous Hollywood parties. Full of stars from A-list to D-list, hangers-on, and paparazzi. She didn’t want to go, hated those kinds of fake things, but her manager and publicist insisted it was good for the show. They sent people over with clothes and shoes, and people to do her hair and makeup. The next thing she knew, she was being bundled into a limo and off she went.   
At her arrival, the door was opened and she smiled for the photogs and fans, stopped to sign some autographs and shoot some selfies, then was ushered inside. She wondered how long she would have to stay.  
A familiar voice from behind said, “They roped you into coming too?” She turned with a smile to see Balthazar Getty smiling back, and they embraced in a warm hug.   
He had become a regular guest on Mastermind, playing another professor at the college that Kai’s character was attending.  
“My favorite fake English professor. Hi, Balty,” Kai smiled.  
Even though most people called him Balt, and he introduced himself as such, Kai had taken to calling him Balty. Surprising everyone, he let her.  
His marriage had fallen apart shortly before he joined the show. He and Kai had become close friends, and he confided in her that the divorce was “a long time coming”. Balty had a few flings after the divorce was final, but no one he’d stayed with long.  
“How long do you think we have to stay here?” she asked. Balty was much more well-versed in this Hollywood party etiquette than she, having spent most of his life doing it.  
“At least an hour, maybe two,” he said, and she heaved a sigh.  
“Well,” she said, “anything for the show. We employ so many people, I’d hate to mess it up for everyone by being a bitch.” Balty laughed at that. Kai was the exact opposite of a bitch. 

They got separated from each other in the crowd, and mingled. About an hour into the affair, Kai managed to slip out to a small courtyard to get some fresh air. She sat on a small bench, almost hidden in the darkness, and pulled out her phone to check the time. A man approached and said in a lovely Irish accent, “You hide in the dark, but your light shines and gives you away.”  
Kai looked up and there was Steve Murphy.  
And that was all she wrote.

They began dating almost immediately. Although she’d heard all the rumors of his womanizing ways of the past, she’d also heard that he was looking to settle down. And with that dark hair and those dark eyes and that cute smile of his…..she was a goner.

Steve was a little more into the whole Hollywood scene than she was, so they were out and about quite a bit, and the paparazzi hounded them every step of the way. Kai soon became adept at pretending they weren't there every time they went to lunch. Or for a walk. Or anywhere.   
The pairing didn’t hurt either one's career.   
Kai was still working steadily on Mastermind and doing bit parts in movies and guesting on other shows when her schedule would allow it, and Steve being in the spotlight so much by virtue of dating her alone, saw an uptick in his career as well.  
Tabloid headlines screamed, “Has Kai Tamed Former Heartbreaker Steve?” and splashed their photos all over their pages. It was ridiculous.

The people from the show were happy for Kai, she deserved someone in her life. Although she didn’t talk too much about herself unless asked, they all knew she’d been single since long before the show. From their talks, Balty knew she’d had several bad relationships, some worse than others. They’d left her gun shy, but Steve swept her off her feet. He was happy, but guarded. He didn’t know Steve personally, only from reputation. He hoped the guy really had changed as much as he’d claimed.


	2. Chapter 2

Unfortunately, there was some trouble in their relationship. Although Steve was indeed being faithful, he was also drinking. A lot. More than Kai was comfortable with. Her dad had been an alcoholic, and although he’d been a laid back drunk, he was still a drunk. He missed out on a lot of things that she would have liked to have him there for because he was passed out, or just so drunk that he forgot. He went from job to job, and frustratingly, her mom stood by him. Both of her parents had already passed away, but the pain of her father’s absences remained.  
When she tried to talk to Steve about it, he would roll his eyes. He insisted he wasn’t an alcoholic, he just enjoyed a drink now and then. But his now and then was every day, several times a day. He wasn’t having a glass of wine with dinner, he was having shots of whiskey throughout the day. He was a functional alcoholic, but Kai still didn’t like it. She didn’t like him coming to visit her on set with whiskey on his breath. At least he didn’t drive when he was drunk, getting a cab or Uber instead.  
Balty saw them arguing quietly off to the side of the set one day. He couldn’t hear them, but Kai looked angry, gesturing to Steve and to the door. He was drunk again, and she wanted him to leave. Steve was smirking and shaking his head no. Balty started to walk over and heard Kai say something about “security”. She was going to have him “escorted” out. As she turned to walk away, Steve grabbed her arm and yanked her back. Balty could see the pain and surprise on her face, and ran toward them, yelling , “Get your hands off her, dammit!” Steve looked at Balty, then down at his hand squeezing her arm, and at the grimace of pain on her face, and quickly let her go.  
Steve’s face was a mask of guilt. “Oh shit, baby, I’m sorry! Are you ok?” Kai took a step back, and Balty stepped between them. “Kai, are you alright?” Balthazar asked as she rubbed her arm.  
“I think so,” she said softly.  
Balty turned to Steve. “I think it’s time for you to leave, friend.”  
Steve sidestepped Balty, as if to get to Kai, but Balty stepped in front of him again. “I said it’s time for you to go,” he repeated.  
Steve seemed to weigh his options, then said, “Yeah, ok. You’re right. Baby, I really am sorry. I’ll call you tonight, ok?”  
Kai didn’t answer, but he left anyway. Balthazar turned to face her again. She looked upset and confused.   
“He’s never gotten physical with me. Not ever,” she said.   
“Really?” he asked softly.   
“Really.”  
“Can I ask what you were fighting about?”  
Kai paused, then said, “He drinks. A lot. He was being drunk and obnoxious, so I wanted him to leave. He was refusing, so I was going to get security to make him leave. You know how I feel about alcoholics.”  
Balty just nodded. He knew about her dad from their talks. Kai didn’t mind someone who had a few drinks, but she didn’t care for drunks.  
“We’ve been fighting about it a lot lately,” she continued as he led her over to a bench and they sat down. “He tries to tell me it’s not a big deal, but it is to me. I’m not sure…..I’m not sure about us. He doesn’t want to change, and this isn’t something I can accept.”  
She was so sad, it broke Balthazar’s heart. He thought of how happy Kai had been when she and Steve started dating. The girl had practically glowed. Now she looked so dejected.  
“What are you going to do?” he asked.  
She looked at him and shrugged. “I don’t know. I care about him a lot. I think I love him. But this isn’t an occasional thing with him. It’s every day. He holds it together really well, I admit, but I still hate it.”  
They were called to set, and had to abandon the conversation.

The next day on set, Balty noticed the big bruise Steve had left when he grabbed her. To his surprise, no one on set seemed to care, or even ask her about it. It was quite obvious what it was from, it was in the shape of a hand, all five fingers accounted for. They just put her in a long sleeved shirt and continued on. Balty wanted to shout at everyone, “Hey! Don’t you care that she got hurt?” But it seemed as if everyone was too wrapped up in just continuing on with their day.

Later in the day, Balthazar approached her. “Your arm looks bad,” he said.  
“It’s fine,” she brushed it off. “It looks worse than it is. It doesn’t really hurt. We talked last night.”  
“Let me guess, he’s really sorry, and it will never happen again. Right? I saw that huge bouquet of roses that came for you. I bet he sent them, didn’t he?” he said sarcastically.  
Kai got angry. “For your information, he wants to stop drinking. He doesn’t want to lose me. And yes, the roses were from him, so what?” With that she turned around and walked away.  
Balthazar hoped for everyone’s sake that Steve was serious. Kai was his friend, and he cared for her. He didn’t like to see her hurt.

Steve WAS serious. He didn’t want to lose Kai, he cared for her. However, the problem with alcoholics is that it’s very hard to quit. And his career had picked up and was going well, he didn’t want to slam on the brakes with rehab. Besides, alcohol is so readily available in any store, bars are everywhere, and Hollywood parties always had an over abundance. He didn’t really want to quit, and nobody besides Kai had a problem with it. He tried to keep it a secret from her, but she still always knew.  
And one day, she decided that enough was enough.

She went to his house one day unannounced, with a box of his stuff that he’d left at her apartment, and got all the things she’d left there, as he followed her around the house in tears, begging and pleading with her not to leave, then finally yelling and screaming. He told her she’d never get another role without him, he told her he’d get her blacklisted, he told her she’d be sorry. She never said a word, just gathered her things and left. Kai still loved him, but she couldn’t deal with the alcohol anymore. Walking away was one of the hardest things she’d ever done.

Balthazar pulled his ringing phone out of his pocket and saw that it was Kai. “Hey girl what’s up?” he answered, as always.   
“Hey,” she replied sadly. “I just broke up with Steve.”  
“What?” He was genuinely surprised. “What happened?”  
She recounted going to his place with all his stuff and getting hers, not leaving out the crying, yelling, or threats.  
Balthazar rolled his eyes at that. “Your career is in NO danger. You have one of the best reputations in the business. You’re on time and you do your job, and that alone is more than most in the industry. I hope you know that.”  
“I suppose I do,” she said quietly and sighed. “I just felt like it was over with him, you know? I just didn’t want to end up married to some drunk.”  
Balty took a deep breath. “Can I be honest with you?”  
“Of course.”  
“I’m still kind of upset that you didn’t dump him after he grabbed you on set that day. I mean, come on, Kai. You’re better than that.”  
“I know, but it really WAS the only time he got physical, Balty. We’d argued before, sometimes we really got loud, too. But he never laid a hand on me before that, and he never did after either. I swear on my mom’s grave.”  
“If you say so, I believe you. It just made me scared for you.”  
“I know, and I appreciate your concern, both then and now. I gotta go, I need to put my stuff away.”  
“Alright, are you gonna be ok?”  
Kai sighed. “Yeah. I just need to get used to being by myself again.”  
That broke his heart. “Well if you need anything, and I mean anything, I don’t care if it’s 2 a.m. and want me to read you a story, you just call, ok?”  
Kai chuckled at the idea of him reading her a bedtime story over the phone. “I will.”

Kai spent the next few weeks getting back to her life. The tabloid headlines screamed “Trouble in Paradise?” with pictures of her and Steve. She ignored them and ignored the questions the paparazzi flung at her. This was the worst part of fame: the blatant invasion of privacy. Breakups were hard anyway, having one under a public microscope was the worst.   
Or so she thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here comes trouble....

Kai’s apartment was in a nice, gated community. The place was comfortable, quiet, and well-kept. One day, the property management sent a notice to the residents that they would be painting all the interior hallways in the building and that it would take 2 days. Kai couldn’t stay, the smell of paint fumes made her sick and gave her terrible headaches. She’d have to be gone for at least 3 days: 2 for the painting, and 1 extra, just to be sure. She called the Hotel Sunset Boulevard and booked a suite. The show was on a mid-season hiatus, so she would make it a little mini-vacation. The place was a Hollywood landmark, and she figured why not stay somewhere nice?

She packed up her things for the few days, and drove down to the hotel, checking in and getting escorted up to her room. She loved the telephone they had in the room, they were known for outfitting all the suites with funny, yet working, retro novelty phones: Mickey Mouse phones, old fashioned dial ones, ones shaped like lips, and so on. Hers was a retro push button phone with HUGE push buttons - her grandma had had a similar one, and it made her chuckle. She put her things away and settled in for a few days. She already had the first two scripts for when they got back to work, and figured she could look them over while she was there.

Her cell phone rang right after she got in her room. “I just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing since I haven’t seen you all week. I miss you!” Balthazar cried dramatically over the phone.  
“Oh stop it! We talked on the phone yesterday!” Kai laughed. “I’m fine. I’m at Hotel Sunset Boulevard, actually.”  
“What are you doing there?”  
She told him about the painting going on at her place, and he said, “You know, the hotel is only about 3 miles from where I live.”  
“Really?”  
“Yeah. Why don’t you come over tomorrow for lunch? You can see my place. I can’t believe I’ve never had you over before.”  
“Well I’ve never had you over, either. How come we’ve never hung out like that?” Kai asked. “I guess because we’re always together on set and call each other almost every day,” she continued, answering her own question.  
“Well then that settles it,” Balthazar said. “You’re coming over for lunch, yes?”  
“Sounds great! Just give me your address.”  
Balty rattled it off and Kai put it into her phone, and they settled on 12:30.

Kai was looking out the windows of her room. The young guy who’d brought up her luggage said that sometimes people saw rabbits and deer. Her cell rang again.   
It was Steve.   
They hadn’t spoken since she’d left him. For all his crying and theatrics, he’d never contacted her after she left. She was actually glad, she didn’t need the stress. Why was he calling her now? Curiosity got the best of her, and she answered.  
“H-hello?” she said softly.  
“Um, hi. It’s Steve.”  
“I know.”  
Silence followed, and Kai asked, “Was there something you wanted?”  
“Well...sort of. You know...you know how you came and got your stuff?”  
“Yeah.”  
“You forgot some stuff. Just a few little things.”  
“Like what?” Kai couldn’t imagine she’d forgotten anything.  
“Um, a few old scripts and that fancy gold pen you liked. I’d like to get it back to you. I mean, if you want it. I couldn’t bring myself to just throw it all away.”  
Kai had been wondering about that damn pen. She’d always wanted a fancy one like that, and the people at the bookstore had all chipped in and bought it for her as a going away present. And she should get those old scripts, sometimes things like that could be auctioned for charity.  
Steve continued on, “If you wanted, I could bring it by later today.”  
“Yeah, okay. But I’m not at home. I’m at Hotel Sunset Boulevard. They’re painting my place.”  
“Okay. I can come by at 6 p.m. if that’s good.”  
Kai had no pressing engagements. “That’s fine. Just have the front desk call up to my room. I’ll come down to the lobby to meet you.”  
“Kai, can we maybe grab a bite to eat? The restaurant there is really good.”  
“I don’t know, Steve…”  
“Please. You were right about everything. I’m…looking into rehab. I just want to apologize for everything.” He was lying, but he couldn’t help it. He needed to convince her to come back. Girls NEVER broke up with him, he was the one who did the dumping. This had been a blow to his ego.  
“We’ll see how I feel when you get here.”  
“Okay, see you at 6 then.”  
He was sure she would say yes to dinner.

He wasn’t wrong. Kai didn’t go all out or anything, but she did put on a dress she’d brought with her and some flats. She put on a bit of makeup and made her hair presentable. After all, it WAS dinnertime, and there would be no scene in a public place, he hated that just as much as she did.

6:00.  
6:30.  
No phone call. She called him and it went to voicemail. “It’s me,” she said in her message, the irritation in her voice obvious. “Are you coming or what?”  
6:45.  
7:00.  
Screw it. She dropped her phone into her purse, took off the dress and shoes, and took off her makeup. What an asshole. She changed into some yoga pants and an old sweatshirt that she had cut a v-shaped notch into the neck of to make it more comfortable. She laid out on the bed, turning on the TV and grabbing her script.  
She watched a few reruns of “I Love Lucy”, her favorite show, and scanned the script during the commercials, making notes, missing her gold pen. Just before 8:00, there was a knock on her door. Confused, she turned off the TV and walked over to the door. “Who is it?” she called.  
A nasally voice replied, “Room service.”  
“I didn’t order room service.”  
“Courtesy of the manager.”  
Ok, that made sense. They had recognized her when she checked in, and the manager had kind of kissed her ass.   
She opened the door, but it wasn’t room service.  
It was Steve.

Kai was annoyed.  
“What are you doing here? You’re two hours late, and how did you even find out what room I was in?”  
He smiled at her. “I sweet talked the girl at the front desk.”  
That’s when the smell hit her. He was drunk again.  
Holding out a bag to her, he said, “I brought your things.”  
She took it and looked inside. He’d told the truth about that at least. There were two scripts and her gold pen clipped to one.  
“You’re drunk again,” she said. “I thought you were looking into rehab? How can you when you’re so fucked up?” She sighed at him as he smirked. “You didn’t drive here, did you?” she asked.  
“Nope. I took an Uber.”  
“Good. Go downstairs and call yourself another one.”  
Kai tried to close the door in his face, but he pushed it open and stepped inside. Closing the door and leaning back against it.  
“Steve, GET OUT!”  
“Nope,” he smiled, crossing his arms as if this was a game. “We need to talk,” he said, with a slur to his voice.  
“Had you come at 6 like you said, we could have had dinner and talked. As it is, you’re shit faced and won’t remember anything we talk about. GO HOME.”  
“I’m not leaving,” he said angrily, his smile disappearing.  
“Fine,” Kai said. She turned and walked over to the giant push button phone, picking up the receiver and intending to call security.  
He ran to the phone, grabbed it out of her hands, then yanked the cord right out of the wall. “Who are you gonna call, Kai? Security? The police? Your manager? Your stupid boyfriend, Balthazar? WHO?”  
Kai was actually frightened. Saying the first thing that came to her mind, she defended her friend. “Balthazar isn’t my boyfriend, he’s just my friend. And you’re scaring me. I’d like you to leave.” She headed for the door, intending fully to run out of it herself if she could, but she didn’t make it.  
Because all Hell broke loose.

30 minutes later, she was running out of her hotel room barefoot, purse and keys in hand. Blood ran from her head and face and was splashed on the front of her torn open sweatshirt, tears streaming down her face, heading for the elevator. The doors opened just as she got to it. The people getting off got the shock of their life, seeing a wild-eyed woman with blood all over her. They quickly got off the elevator as she ran in and pressed the button for the lobby. The doors closed just as she heard Steve roar from the end of the hallway, “KAI! GET BACK HERE!”  
The elevator began it’s slow descent. Too slow. Kai’s mind raced. What if he ran down the stairs and beat the elevator? What if he stopped it before it got to the lobby? She grabbed her key ring in a fist so that her keys were poking out between her fingers, and got into a fighting stance.  
The elevator made it to the lobby, and the tourists waiting for it probably had a heart attack when the doors opened. She nearly punched one of them. Instead she ran out of the lobby, people staring as she passed. A worker called out, “Ma’am! Are you okay? Do you need help?” She didn’t even pause. Stopping right now would be a VERY bad idea.

Running out to where her car was parked, she noticed Steve’s silver Camaro parked a few spaces away. The drunk bastard had driven himself after all. She still didn’t stop, she ran straight to her car, glancing in the back seat to make sure no one was there. She unlocked her car door, got in and locked it just as quickly. She started the car with one hand as she fumbled with her seatbelt. Looking in the rear view to make sure she didn’t hit anyone, she backed out of the spot and headed to the driveway. Just as she was about to pull out into traffic, she saw Steve come out of the hotel room holding a towel against his bloody shoulder. He saw her car just as she pulled out into traffic. Was he going to come after her? She got off of Sunset Boulevard as quickly as possible, driving randomly down the residential side streets. After a few minutes, she got to a stop sign, and plugged in her cell with shaking hands, glad that she could use voice commands on it. “Call Balthazar,” she said to the phone. That was all she could think of. “Hey sweetie, couldn’t wait until lunch to talk to me, huh?” he answered cheerfully.  
“Are you home right now?” Kai asked, hoping with everything that he wasn’t on a date or something.  
Balthazar heard the panic in her voice. “Kai, what's wrong? Are you okay?”  
“Are you home right now?” she asked again, starting to cry.  
“Yes, I’m home. What’s going on?”  
“Can I come over? Can I come right now?”  
“Kai, what’s-”  
He was cut off by her all but screaming, “Balthazar, PLEASE! Can I come over?”  
“Of course you can. “  
“Okay, I’m coming right now. Wait outside for me, okay?”  
“Alright, I’ll open the gates and wait for you.”  
She hung up.

Balthazar was worried. Something was definitely wrong. She was crying and sounded panicked. What the hell was that all about? He went downstairs, opening the gate that led up his driveway, and waited by it.  
Less than 10 minutes later, she came driving up in her blue Ford Fusion. She sped right past him, and up to the end of the drive. Balthazar closed the gates, and started walking up to her car. Her driver’s side door opened, but she didn’t get out. That’s when he heard her crying. He ran the rest of the way to the car. She was slumped over the steering wheel, letting loose with the most gut-wrenching sobs he’d ever heard.  
He gently put a hand on her shoulder. “Kai?”

She turned to look at him. The driveway had lights lining it, and between those and the dome light of her car, he realized she had blood all over her.  
“Oh my god, Kai! What the hell happened?”  
Kai gave him a terrified and pleading look. “I need you to help me inside, and we need to call the police. I just stabbed Steve."


	4. Chapter 4

Balthazar looked at her blankly. “You did what?” he asked.  
“I stabbed Steve. I stabbed him in the arm. He’s alive and okay, I think, but we need to get inside and call the police.” Her voice was hoarse and quiet.  
Helping her out of the car, he saw that she was barefoot and limping, and that her sweatshirt was torn. At first he’d thought all that blood was from Steve, but as they got inside the house, he saw that she was bleeding. She had blood on her head, matting her hair, blood coming from her foot leaving a trail of footprints, and blood running from a split lip and her nose. It looked like a bruise was starting to form on one cheek, and the other had an angry looking red hand print. “Kai, did Steve do this to you?”  
She looked at him like he was stupid and said, “I didn’t do it to myself!”  
Balthazar felt like a dumbass. Of course. “Maybe I should take you to the hospital.”  
“NO! That’s the first place he’ll look! I can’t go there!” She was going into a full blown panic.  
“Okay, okay, just calm down. I’ll have the police come.”  
He called 911.  
“911, what is your emergency?”  
“Um yes, my friend is here. Her ex-boyfriend beat her pretty badly. We need an officer to come, please.”  
“Does she need medical care?”  
Balty looked at Kai. She had taken some tissues from a nearby box of Kleenex and was using it to simultaneously wipe her tears and clean blood off of her face. “I think so, but she’s afraid to go to the hospital.”  
“Has she been sexually assaulted?”  
Balthazar looked at her. Had she? Her shirt was ripped completely open, but her pants were okay, and he could see that she was still wearing her bra and it didn’t seem torn.  
“I’m not sure. Maybe.”  
“Ok, we can send a female officer. What is your address?”  
Balty rattled it off, and they promised an officer would be there in 10 minutes. 

Kai was sitting at the breakfast bar in his kitchen. She was looking down at the floor and shaking. “Kai,” he said softly, “the cops are on their way. What happened?”  
She didn’t look at him, but answered, “I want to wait for the police. I only want to tell this story once.”  
“Okay, they’re on their way.”  
They sat quietly, side by side. Kai, mentally running through the events of the evening. Balthazar, feeling helpless.

10 minutes on the dot and there was a buzzing sound coming from his intercom. Balty pressed and button and said, “Can I help you?”  
“Beverly Hills Police Department.” He double checked the cameras outside the gate, buzzed them in, and met them at the door.  
Two officers followed Balthazar. In the kitchen, they saw a scared woman sitting on a stool clutching a torn sweatshirt closed. She had her foot upturned on her thigh and a bloody Kleenex pressed against it. There was a small trail of blood from the door to where she sat. “I think I stepped on some glass,” she said softly.  
“We’ll get you all taken care of, don’t worry,” Balthazar assured her.

The two police officers looked at each other and then the female officer spoke. “Ma’am, before we go any farther, I need to ask you: do you know the person who did this to you, or was this a random attack?”  
“I know him,” she said quietly. She raised her eyes to look at the officers and saw them both eyeing Balthazar suspiciously.  
“He didn’t do it!” Kai said, a bit angrily. “My god, I came to him to get away!”  
The female officer spoke again, “Sorry, but usually in assault cases like this, the perpetrator is standing right there. My name is Officer Kelly Casey. What is your name?”  
“Kai Porter.”  
Officer Casey started to write it down and stopped. “Kai Porter?” she asked. “Like the actress?”  
“Yes. That’s me.”  
Both officers stepped forward to get a closer look. The male officer said, “Well, I’ll be damned,” then looked over at Balthazar. “I thought you two looked familiar! You’re both on that show, aren’t you? That ‘Mastermind’ show? It’s my wife’s favorite show, and she just got me into watching it!”  
Kai smiled weakly and said, “I hope you enjoy it.”  
Officer Casey elbowed him. “A little professionalism, please.” He stepped back and put his ‘cop face’ back on.  
“Miss Porter, who did this?”  
“My ex-boyfriend Steve Murphy, the actor.”  
Officer Casey nodded and made some notations on her pad. She stepped closer and asked, “May I take a closer look at your injuries? You may need medical care.”  
Kai let the officer look her over. “I’m sorry Miss Porter, but we’ll need to take photographs of your injuries at some point. If you choose to press charges, you’ll need them for evidence.”  
“Yes, I understand.”

Officer Casey said, “I need you to tell us exactly what happened, from beginning to end. If you like we can have Mr. Getty and Officer Russo leave the room. And is it okay if I record this conversation?” she asked as she took a recording device out of her pocket.  
“They can stay. And yes, recording this is fine,” Kai said.  
She talked a little bit about why they broke up, and told them about why she was at Hotel Sunset Boulevard and how Steve had called her. Kai recounted how she’d waited for him to show up and even called, but he’d never answered. How he’d knocked on the door, pushed his way in and then refused to leave. How she could smell the booze on him.   
“I turned to go use the phone. I was going to call security. He took the receiver out of my hand and yanked the cord out of the wall, then threw the base on the floor. Some pieces broke off. I told him he needed to go, AGAIN, and walked toward the door. I was going to run out, actually. But he grabbed my by my hair from behind and threw me to the ground. He ran over to the door and locked it, then started walking toward me. I was still on the ground, I guess I was stunned. I started to crawl away backwards. I turned and saw the broken phone on the ground. My cell phone was in my bag, but he was in between me and my purse. He saw me look at the phone and said, ‘Who do you think you’re going to call now, bitch?’” Kai started to cry. Balthazar pulled another tissue out of the box and handed it to her. He gently rubbed her back and said, “It’s ok. You’re safe now.”  
She nodded and took a deep breath to calm herself down.  
“He was acting super aggro, I’ve never seen him like that. He grabbed the broken phone, and threw it down on the top of my head, hard. I started to cry, and that made him madder. He grabbed me by the front of my shirt and picked me up with one hand, and the phone with the other. He threw me back on the bed and grabbed a handful of my hair. He yelled at me, ‘I said who do you think you’re calling, bitch?’ He hit me on the side of the head with the broken base of the phone, this is where,” she said, gingerly fingering a still bleeding cut on her scalp. Officer Casey spoke into the recorder, “The victim has a head wound consistent with being hit with an object that she alleges was a telephone.”  
“I told him to stop, that he was hurting me. And he said that it was my fault, because I broke up with him. He said, ‘Nobody breaks up with me! I do the leaving, you don’t do the leaving!’ I guess he was angry that I bruised his ego.  
He grabbed me by my throat and he was crying and screaming in my face. He was saying, ‘I could have loved you! Why don’t you love me? All of my girlfriends loved me! All of them cried when I left!’ I was so scared, it was like he was becoming unhinged.  
I thought maybe I could calm him down, so I told him that I still loved him, and that I had waited for him so we could have dinner. I told him everything was fine, that we could talk about this, we could fix it. That he was right, we needed to talk.”  
Officer Casey asked, “Has he ever gotten physical with you before?”  
Kai was quiet, and Balthazar said softly, “Kai, tell her.”  
Taking a deep breath, Kai told her, “Once, but that was about 3 months ago. And he’d never done anything before or since.”  
“Did he hit you?” Officer Russo asked.   
“No, no. We were arguing and I went to walk away, and he grabbed me by the arm. That was it.”  
Balthazar interjected, “It left a bruise.”  
Kai looked at him, then told the officers, “Yes, it left a bruise. But that was the end of it. Until tonight.”  
“Okay,” Officer Casey told her. “Please continue.”  
“So like I said, I told him that he was right, we needed to talk. I just wanted him to calm down. Maybe then I could leave, or call for help, or keep him talking all night if I needed to. But he wasn’t buying it. Maybe I’m not as good of an actress as I thought,” she said sadly. “I just didn’t know what else to do. But like I said, he wasn’t falling for it. I could feel the blood running from the side of my head, I knew I was hurt. I tried to tell him again that I loved him. He let go of my neck, thankfully, but then he grabbed me by a handful of hair again with his left hand. Then with his right hand, he slapped me full force on my left cheek. I saw his hand coming and tried to block it but I wasn’t fast enough. Then he backhanded me across my right cheek.”  
Officer Casey spoke into the recorder again, “The victim also has a large red hand print on her left cheek, and a bruise on her right, consistent with the attack she has described.” Looking at Kai, she said, “Please continue.”  
Balthazar’s blood was boiling. What the hell was wrong with Steve? Sometimes you get dumped, and life goes on. He reached for Kai’s hand and held it, and she gave him a small smile. It was a simple gesture, that simply said ‘I’m here for you’, and Kai appreciated it.  
“He kept saying that he loved me, and why didn’t I love him? I kept trying to tell him that I DID love him, but it was like he couldn’t hear me. He just kept saying it. He used my hair to kind of throw me back on the bed from my sitting position, then he...he, uh…” she trailed off and started to cry. Officer Casey asked, “Are you okay, Miss Porter?”  
“I just need a minute, is that okay?”  
“Of course,” she turned off the recorder. “Would you like Officer Russo and I to step into the next room for a few minutes?”  
Kai just nodded and sniffled miserably.  
Balthazar put his arm around her and she leaned against him. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I know this is scary. I’m really proud of you.” He was worried though that she had been raped by Steve. She was still holding her torn sweatshirt closed.  
She took a shaky breath and called out to the officers, “I think I’m ready.”  
They came back in and turned the recorder back on.  
Kai spoke again. “He grabbed me under my arms and hoisted me up so I was laying on the bed properly, you know, with my head on the pillow….we had been kind of across it before then. He straddled me and said, ‘I’ll show you how much I love you.’ He ripped my sweatshirt open. It had a notch here on the neck that I had cut out so it would fit better, and he just ripped it from there. He pulled my…my bra down, and he was, um…groping my breasts really hard. I started crying and I told him, ‘Please don’t do this, don’t rape me’. And he actually stopped. For a second I thought I had finally gotten through to him.”  
Officer Casey said, “If you have bruises on your breasts, we’ll need to take pictures of those injuries as well. I can take those myself if that makes you more comfortable, and you can cover up your more ‘delicate’ areas with your hands.”  
Kai just nodded. What a nightmare.  
“Like I said, I thought I’d gotten through to him…but I hadn’t.”


	5. Chapter 5

Kai squeezed Balthazar’s hand. “He stopped grabbing me. I thought okay, it’s over, but it wasn’t. He was still straddling me. He suddenly just put his hands around my neck and started to squeeze. He was trying to choke me. I started doing everything I could to get him off of me: I tried to break his grasp, tried to buck him off me, I even scratched him as hard as I could, but it was like he didn’t even feel it. All I could think was that he was going to kill me. He would kill me, and that would be it. I started feeling around to the sides, trying to find some kind of weapon. Maybe I could grab the lamp or something. My right hand was coming up with nothing, just the pillow. I didn’t want to even try anything with that, I thought he might take it and use it to smother me. I kept doing my best to tell him ‘no’ and ‘stop’, but not much was coming out. My left hand was feeling around on the nightstand, and I felt the hotel pen. I had been using it to make notes on my script.  
I grabbed it as tight as I could, and I stabbed him in his right shoulder with it.”  
Officer Casey interrupted. “Is that the blood on your sweatshirt?”  
“Some of it, yes. I’m sure some of it is also mine.  
He let go and rolled off me, holding his shoulder and yelling, and I didn’t waste any time. I jumped up off the bed, and ran. I grabbed my purse, unlocked the door and took off down the hallway. I was going to run down the stairs, but just as I came out of my room, I heard the elevator stopping. The people got off and I got on and pressed for the lobby floor. Just as the doors were closing, I heard him yell, ‘Kai get back here!’ As if I would willingly walk back into that.  
When I was going down to the lobby, I got scared that he might run down the stairs. That he could stop it before I made it to the lobby and get me. So I had my car keys in my hand with the keys poking out through my fingers. I wasn’t going down without a fight. But I got to the lobby first.  
I ran out to my car-”  
Officer Casey interrupted again, asking, “Why didn’t you ask for help in the lobby? Surely there were plenty of people.”  
“Because all I could think of was getting away. I didn’t want to stop and ask for help when I knew he was likely right behind me. I was afraid he’d kill me, people or not. I was running on adrenaline, I guess. I ran out to my car, and I was barefoot,” she turned to Balthazar, “that must have been when I stepped on the glass, there must have been some in the parking lot,” then she turned back to the officers. “I ran out to my car, and Steve’s was parked only a few spots away. He had driven there even though he was drunk, and lied about it. I got in, locked the doors, put on my seatbelt and pulled out. As I did, I saw him in the rear view mirror come out of the hotel, holding a towel on his arm, and it was bleeding. He saw me leave. I didn’t know if he’d come after me, so I got off Sunset as fast as I could and started going around down residential side streets. After a few minutes, I pulled over and called Balthazar to see if I could come here. He said yes, I came over, and I told him to call the police. And you know the rest.  
My head hurts.”  
The officers looked at each other. Officer Casey looked at her head that was still bleeding, her foot that was doing the same.  
Kai suddenly said, “Are you going to arrest me for stabbing him with the hotel pen? I swear to god I did it because I had to! Or maybe for driving barefoot? I know it’s against the law in California.”  
With an incredulous look on her face, the female officer told her, “Miss Porter, we are not going to arrest you for defending yourself, or for driving without shoes on! But we do need to take you to the hospital.”  
“NO! That’s the first place he’ll look!”  
“You likely need stitches on your head, you may have a concussion, and you need that glass dug out of your foot.”  
“But he’ll come for me! He’ll go to every hospital looking for my car until he finds me!”  
Balthazar spoke up, “We’ll take my car. He doesn’t know what it looks like. And I promise I’ll stay with you the whole time.”

Before she could answer, her phone rang. They all looked at her as she pulled it out of her purse. A fresh flood of tears started as she said, “It’s him. It’s Steve.”  
Officer Casey pulled out her recorder, telling Kai quickly, “Answer it on speaker and before you say anything let him know you’re recording.”  
Kai clicked on the speaker and said, “I’m recording this call. What-” Before she could even finish, Steve roared, “I DON’T GIVE FUCK! Where are you? This isn’t over, bitch!”  
Kai lied and said, “I’m at the L.A.P.D. headquarters.”  
“GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THERE, NOW! You stabbed me, you fucking whore!”  
“You were strangling me!”  
“You think that was bad? When I get my hands on you, you'll wish I’d finished the job! I’m coming down to the L.A.P.D. right now! If you aren’t outside in 5 minutes, you’ll be sorry!” With that he hung up. Officer Casey noted the date and time in the recorder, confirming that they were not at the L.A.P.D., but at the home of a private citizen, and shut it off.  
“Miss Porter, please let us take you to the hospital. Your friend has said he will stay with you, and we will have a police guard with you at all times as well. You need medical attention.”  
Kai looked at Balthazar, and he nodded.  
“Okay, I’ll go.”

Balthazar grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt for her, and his Gucci slides. He knew it would all be too big on her, but the police said they would need her clothes for evidence. They had dispatched detectives to the hotel as well as forensics to gather evidence. Cops were sent to her apartment complex, just in case. They also had an APB out for Steve, and alerted the L.A.P.D. that he might show up and to keep some eyes on their parking lot.  
Kai limped out to Balty’s sports car. He opened the door and she balked at the clean interior. “Come on, Kai, climb in.”  
“I’ll get your upholstery all messy. I’m still bleeding.”  
“It’s fine, I can get it cleaned. Really, come on now, we have to go,” he said, gently.  
She reluctantly agreed and climbed in, trying not to touch anything, and he followed the officers to Cedars-Sinai Beverly Hills. Another officer met them there. He was a big, tough looking guy, Officer Jacob Sealy. “Sealy, like the mattress?” she asked.  
He was definitely intimidating, but surprisingly gentle and soft spoken with Kai. Smiling and telling her, “Yes, like the mattress. Miss Porter, I will not leave your side even if they take you for testing. If you need to stay overnight, I will stand guard outside your room. I understand your gentleman friend will be staying as well, so between the two of us, there is no way anyone can get to you.”  
Officer Sealy kept his word. When they drew the curtain for Kat to change out of her bloody clothes and into a gown, he stood outside of the curtain. When they took her for a CT scan, he guarded the door. When they finally took the photos of her injuries, he stood outside of that door as well.  
Balthazar was with her holding her hand as they painfully removed the glass pieces from her foot and bandaged it, and as they stitched her scalp. But Officer Sealy was able to be with her in the places where Balthazar, as a citizen, was unable to. And when they finally admitted her to a room, with Balthazar in a chair next to her bed, the officer stood outside, practically daring anyone to try to come in. All the doctors and nurses had to check in with him.  
She lay in her bed. “Why can’t I just go home?” she asked as they got her settled in.  
“Because you have a mild concussion, Miss Porter,” the kindly nurse told her. “We have to wake you up, check on you, and take your vitals every hour on the hour. It’s a safety measure.”  
“Oh, alright,” Kai said, annoyed.

After the nurse left, Balty said, “You can’t go home anyway. Paint fumes.”  
“I know.”  
“You don’t want to go back to the hotel and stay there, do you?”  
“No, I was going to go to another hotel. Beverly Wilshire or something. Like they would even let me in the front door with the way I look right now. Ripped, bloody clothes, bleeding wounds on my foot and head, and barefoot,” she laughed humorlessly.  
Although her name alone would get her in, it would indeed be a debacle. “You know,” Balty said softly, “you can come stay with me. Why don’t you just do that? Steve has no idea where I live, he couldn’t get past my security gates without me knowing. I have an alarm system and cameras, you’d be much more safe with me than at a hotel. He can cruise hotel parking lots looking for your car, and once he finds it, there’s no reason to believe he won’t sweet talk another front desk clerk. Even if you went back home, which I also don’t think you should do for at least a few days, you wouldn’t be as safe as you would be at my place. You could rest and relax and not have to be afraid. Besides, I still owe you lunch, remember?”  
“Balty, I don’t want to uh… ‘cramp your style’, you know?”  
It took a minute for him to figure out what she meant, and he laughed. “Oh god, Kai! I haven’t been on a date in literally months! And I sure as hell didn’t bring any of those wanna be’s back to my place! You bring those girls home and they’ll NEVER leave. Once they get a foot in the door, you need a crowbar to pry them out. But you, on the other hand, are my friend. I completely welcome you into my home. Honestly, if you hadn’t called me and had gone somewhere else, I’d probably be pissed.”  
“You were the first person I thought of. The only person, really. I trust you.”  
“Then come stay with me. As long as you need. I’d welcome the company.”  
He was right, it was the best thing she could do.  
“Ok,” she said. “I’ll stay.”  
“Good,” he told her, leaning over and kissing her forehead. “Now get some sleep. I’m going to park myself in this horrible, ugly chair all night. You need anything, just say the word. If I’m asleep, you wake me up, ok?”  
Kai nodded and closed her eyes. The exhaustion must have caught up with her because she fell asleep quickly.  
Balthazar didn’t sleep well. The chair really was ugly and uncomfortable. Also, if Kai even stirred in her sleep, he shot awake. Plus the nurses kept their word, coming in every hour on the hour to wake her and check her vitals. They were quiet and gentle, and Kai seemed to fall right back asleep every time, but he was so worried about keeping her safe. He did manage to doze off, and he was woken at 6:30 a.m. This time it was Officer Sealy.  
“Mr. Getty?”  
Balthazar started awake, “What?”  
Sealy said, “There’s some news. I thought you should know. You can decide if we should wake her.”  
“What is it?”  
“They caught him. They caught Steve Murphy,” then added under his breath, “that paddy bastard. That’s the good news.”  
Balty has chuckled at the “paddy” remark, but didn’t like the rest of what he’d said. “I take it there’s bad news, too?”  
“Yeah,” Officer Sealy ran a hand through his close cropped hair. “Someone talked. It’s a damn circus outside The media knows she’s here."


	6. Chapter 6

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!” Balty said, heading to the window. Instead of opening the blinds, he just barely peeked out from behind them. Sure enough, there was the paparazzi. Fucking TMZ, he hated them. There were some news vans pulling up with their reporters coming out of the side doors and setting up.  
Sealy spoke, “Are you parked on that side?”  
“Nah, I pulled in around the other side. We came in through that back door to avoid anyone seeing us.”  
“Alright good. They can set up and sit there all day. We may be able to hustle the two of you out the back. They’ll be none the wiser.”  
A soft, slightly hoarse and sleepy voice asked, “Who will be none the wiser? What’s going on?”  
Both men turned and faced her, but neither spoke. Neither one wanted to upset her.  
Kai got annoyed. “Someone talk or I’ll hit you both with my purse.”  
Officer Sealy spoke first. “The good news is, they caught Steve. He’s being held right now. His lawyer is trying to get him released, but they are fighting it, since he hurt you so badly.”  
Kai’s face lit up at that. They caught him! He hadn’t slipped away or disappeared or sweet talked his way out of it. However, neither of the guys looked happy. Kai said, “Okay, what else?”  
“The paparazzi is outside. Someone leaked that you’re here.”  
Kai was quiet for a moment. Then just shouted in her hoarse voice, “FUCKING VULTURES! I hated that about dating Steve! He loved the publicity and the pictures. I went along with it for him. It helped keep his name out there. But this? Do they even know why I’m here? Do they know what he did? Do they know he tried to kill me? For fuck’s sake, don’t they have any goddamn deceny anymore?”  
Balty had never heard her have an outburst like that. He’d never even really heard her swear much. “It’s ok, Kai. We’re parked on the other side. We may be able to avoid them completely.”  
The doctor came in then to check on her. “Good morning, Miss Porter,” he said in an overly cheerful manner. “I’m sorry to say there seemed to be an incident where one of our staff may have accidentally let it slip that you were admitted here last night -”  
“I know,” she cut him off in a flat voice.  
“Yes, well, I want you to know we are trying our hardest to find out who did this, and they will be dealt with appropriately.”  
“Will they be fired?” she asked.  
“Well, Miss Porter, we try to deal with these things on a case by case basis, and -”  
“Do you have any idea how big of an invasion of my goddamn privacy this is? Do you have any idea how many laws you’ve broken? Not just patient confidentiality laws but nationwide HIPAA laws? Do you know that I could sue this entire hospital and everyone who works here, including you, out of existence?” The doctor seemed shocked that she knew that. But Balty smiled inwardly. After all, Kai’s character had gone back to college to get a Masters in healthcare...looks like Kai had done more than just memorize her lines, she’d done some homework on her own.  
Kai was still lecturing the doctor. “Do you know that I could get your license revoked for this?”  
“Miss Porter, I assure you that I had nothing to do with this!”  
“So you say.”  
“It could have even been a janitor who saw you and told the press!”  
“Well maybe you need to vet your employees a little better here! Do you realize I was nearly killed last night? What if I hadn't had a police guard outside my door and my friend wasn’t staying here? What if I was a battered housewife who came here alone for medical care? Would he have been able to just waltz up here and finish me off? Is that the kind of hospital you run? Because I assure you, doctor, I am NOT FUCKING AMUSED!” Balthazar wanted to applaud, but didn’t, just smiled, and saw that Officer Sealy was doing the same.  
The doctor didn’t seem to know what to say. He swallowed hard and looked at the two men, as if they would help him.  
Kai spoke to the doctor again. “Did you come in here for any reason other than to give me a dose of bad news first thing in the morning?”  
“I, uh, came to check your vitals and perform a cursory examination. To see if you would be well enough to discharge today or not.”  
“Then I suggest you do so. I’m sure there are other patients waiting their turn as well.”  
“Yes of course,” the doctor said as he approached her bed. He looked over her chart, and checked her vitals himself. Asked if she was having any dizziness, blind spots, or blurred vision, if she was having any trouble swallowing or breathing, checked and rebandaged her foot, and checked her stitches.  
“You seem to be well enough for discharge, unless you would be more comfortable staying another night. Some people prefer it as a personal cautionary measure, but as I know how unhappy you are with the … ‘incident’ we’ve had, would you rather be discharged?”  
“Yes, doctor, I would. The sooner the better, please.”  
“Very well. I will have them get your discharge papers together immediately.”

The doctor left, and Officer Sealy, went to his post outside the door, leaving Balty and Kai alone.  
“I brought some stuff for you to wear, not high fashion, but it was the best I could do,” he told her.  
“I appreciate it. Better than trying to sneak out with my ass hanging out of this gown.”  
There was a knock and Kai asked, “Who is it?” Officer Sealy replied, “Officer Casey and Officer Russo are here and would like to speak with you.”  
“Okay, come on in.”  
The Officers told her about Steve being caught, which she already knew. He had cruised by the L.A.P.D. offices, looking for her, but never stopped. They saw him on their parking lot surveillance cameras, and sent a plainclothes officer in an unmarked car to follow him. He circled back towards the hotel, passed it, and went to the Southern California Hospital at Hollywood on DeLongpre Ave. He made up some lie to the ER personnel about falling on a piece of metal from a garden sculpture. The doctor still called the police to report it, as it seemed suspicious, and the plainclothes cop just walked in and arrested him. He said Steve still reeked of booze, and argued about why he was being arrested. As soon as Kai’s name was mentioned he shouted, “That bitch stabbed me with a goddamn hotel pen!” Then he refused to say anything else until his lawyer was present. They let him know that the judge had agreed he should stay in county jail until her safety could be assured.  
They also reminded her of the paparazzi outside. “I know, but Balthazar parked on the other side, so we’re going to try to sneak out.”  
“And it gets even worse,” Officer Casey said apologetically. “This hospital isn’t the only place that they’re camped out. There's a bunch of photographers outside the Hotel Sunset Boulevard. It’s starting to get out that there was some kind of bloody altercation involving you and your ex. The crime scene has already been processed. We have technicians in there now, cleaning it up, there was quite a bit of blood, to be honest. The hotel said they would like you to leave, considering what happened.”  
“Which never would have happened if their front desk girl hadn’t told him my room number.”  
“That’s exactly what we pointed out. They said if you came and cleared out your things, they would refund your money, in full, and not charge you for damage to the room. They also said that the worker in question had been fired, and then they gave us this spiel about how they were a ‘Hollywood institution’, and that the ‘safety, security, and privacy’ of their guests was of the utmost importance.”  
“Although they let TMZ basically set up shop at the base of their driveway,” Kai said bitterly.  
Balthazar said, “So we can go get her things out of there?”  
“Yes,” Officer Russo told him. “They would prefer it be done today.”  
“Okay, she just needs to change and get her discharge papers, and I can take her up there.”  
Kai suddenly had a thought. “We can’t do it like that!”  
“Why not?” Officer Russo was confused.  
“Because NOBODY, not the media and definitely not Steve, knows that I’m staying with Balthazar. Steve doesn’t even know where Balthazar lives or the type of car he drives. Personally, I’d like to keep it that way. The less he knows, the less that anyone knows, the safer I’ll be. I understand that it’s bound to get out sooner or later, but I’d prefer later, to be honest.”

Kai was right, and everyone knew it. So they hatched a plan. While Kai changed into the ridiculous sweats and slides that were several sizes too big, Officer Casey went down to the gift shop. She bought a beanie cap to cover Kai’s stitches and a pair of oversized sunglasses. They wouldn’t hide everything, but they would have to do.  
In order to keep the focus off Balty, since they didn’t even want it known that he was there, Kai walked out the side door, flanked by Officer Sealy, Officer Casey, and Officer Russo, while Balthazar sneaked out the back. As soon as the door opened, the officers hustled her out to a waiting patrol car. The reporters kept sticking their cameras and microphones in her face, asking her if she was in an accident, if she had been in a fight, if she knew Steve was in jail. She said nothing. They bundled her into the patrol car and headed for the hotel.

Officer Casey called for a few more patrol cars to be at the hotel as they were on their way. When they pulled up, all the reporters that had been hanging around sprang into action, and it was more of the same. Kai thought they’d be okay once they got into the lobby, but that had more reporters.  
“Were you arrested Kai?”  
“Steve was stabbed here last night, do you know anything about it?”  
“What happened to you Kai? Why are you wearing those clothes?”  
“Is that a bandage on your foot? Were you hurt last night?”  
They got into the elevators and the door closed. Kai took a deep, shaky breath.  
Officer Sealy said, “You’re doing great. We’re almost done. Just gotta get your things, and then you can get out of here.”  
“What if they follow us when we leave?” Kai asked.  
“They can’t. That’s why we have extra cars. One will block the exit from the driveway. If anyone tries to get around, on motorcycles or whatever, the others will pursue and they will be pulled over immediately.”

The elevator doors opened to the floor Kai’s room had been on. She stepped out and looked toward the door. It wasn’t even that far, but it had seemed like miles when she was running for it. On the drive, Officer Casey said that Steve’s blood had been found in the stairwells. So he probably had been trying to beat her to the lobby. The thought of it gave her chills.  
Arriving at the hotel door. Officer Casey knocked and said, “It’s us.” The door opened and Kai walked in. Everything looked okay, except the phone was missing. 

“The phone….” Kai said, unsure of what to say next.  
Officer Casey explained that along with the clothes Kai had been wearing, the phone and hotel pen she’d stabbed him with were taken into evidence. So were the sheets and blankets that had blood from both of them. At first, Steve had tried to deny ever even being there, but not only did hotel staff remember him, his DNA, blood, and fingerprints were all over the room.

Kai grabbed her suitcase and started repacking her clothes. She pulled out a pair of jeans and t-shirt, asking Officer Casey if she could change before they left. She found the paper bag with her scripts and gold pen on the counter. “It’s okay for me to take this?” she asked, unsure if it was considered evidence. “It’s fine,” said Officer Casey. “We photographed it, but you even said yourself that he did indeed bring it. We don’t have to keep it.” Kai put that in her suitcase and went to the bathroom to change.  
At least now she had her own clothes and shoes to go with the beanie hat and sunglasses.  
She came out and made one more sweep of the room, checking all the drawers and closet, and even under the bed, but she had everything. Officer Casey smiled and told her, “I do the same thing whenever I travel. Double and triple check everything, even if I knew I didn’t put anything in that spot. I drive my husband crazy.” Kai smiled at her.  
Looking around the room, she saw that she had everything. Taking a deep breath, she told Officer Casey, “I’m ready.”  
Officers Sealy and Russo were waiting outside of the door, talking to the hotel manager. As soon as they opened the door and saw Kai, he started talking to her, and he wasn’t kissing her ass nearly as much. He was actually kind of rude.  
“Miss Porter, do you remember me, Kenneth Ayres, the manager of the Hotel Sunset Boulevard?”  
“Yes, I do.”  
“Good. I see you have packed and are vacating the premises. We will of course refund your money and we have also graciously decided to not charge you for the damage to the room.”  
Kai dropped her suitcase with a thud. This guy was acting like she trashed the place with a wild party.  
“Excuse me?” she said. Stepping right up to his oily, pock marked face, she told him, “The only damage was a destroyed 1970’s era phone! And it was destroyed because my ex used it to beat me! And he beat me because one of YOUR employees told his drunk ass exactly where to find me! The crime scene technicians have thoroughly cleaned up the room as a courtesy. Don’t you dare sit there and act like I did something wrong! Don't you dare say that you are being ‘gracious’! You should be gracious that I don’t sue your ass for putting me in danger like you did!” Kai realized that was the second time today she had threatened to sue someone, but it seemed to be the only way to get these bastards to listen to her. The manager balked and took a step back, telling her, “That person has been fired. I don’t think legal action is necessary.”  
Kai stepped right back in his personal space. “Sir, do you realize I almost died in that room? That I was almost killed in YOUR hotel, because of the actions of YOUR employee? Do you have any idea what I went through in there? Any idea at all?” Kai couldn’t help it as hot, angry tears started streaming down her face. Nobody seemed to care that she’d almost lost her life, all they cared about was their own reputation.  
The manager wasn’t sure what to say or how to react. He just looked at the ground. Officer Casey said softly, “Let’s get out of here Miss Porter. You don’t want to stay in this place.” Officer Sealy picked up her suitcase with a smile saying, “Allow me.”  
They got back into the elevator, and Kai took a deep breath. “I know I’ll have to speak to the press eventually, but I really don’t want to.”  
Officer Russo, who had been mostly silent up to this point, told her, “You don’t have to speak to the press. You don’t have to do anything. Unfortunately it HAS gone public that SOMETHING happened, but you are under no obligation to talk to anybody about it.”  
Kai thought it was a nice sentiment, but he had no idea about what it was like to be in the public eye.  
The elevator doors opened to the lobby, and the officers had to physically push reporters away to get Kai through. She made it outside and into a patrol car, and they drove off. A news van tried to follow them, but the other patrol cars blocked it from leaving. Officer Casey did much as Kai had done the night before: took residential side streets instead of hitting the freeway or heading down the boulevard to get to Balthazar’s house. They got to his gate and pressed the intercom. The gates opened without Balty answering, he just wanted to get Kai in there and away from everyone else. He met them outside just as Kai was getting out of the car, and he rushed over to her, hugging her. “You okay, Kai?”  
“I’m better now,” she smiled weakly. The gates blocked out the world.  
Officer Casey promised to call in a few days, just to check in if nothing else, and then she was gone.


	7. Chapter 7

They waited until the gates closed again, then Balty picked up her suitcase for her. “Let’s go in and get you settled, yeah?”  
“Okay.”  
He led her in the front door of his house. She’d noticed the night before that his place was huge, but she’d only stayed in the kitchen really. 

As he walked her through the house, he pointed out rooms: living room, dining room, library. She paused in the library and immediately started scanning the books on the shelves. Balthazar smiled at her. “Feel free to read any of these anytime you want,” he told her. Turning to him, she asked, “Have you read all of these?”  
“Oh no! I mean, I love to read, and I bought most of them, but...my ex-wife kind of took it over. We couldn’t just have regular books, we had to have leather bound books to make it look nice. And all the classics too - Twain, Dickens, Austen, Bronte, they’re all there. Have you read any classics?”  
“Just in school. I read Great Expectations, White Fang, Fahrenheit 451... all those books they make you read.”  
“Catcher In the Rye?”  
“You mean the serial killer's favorite? Yep, read that too. I thought it sucked, but everyone else thought it was great,” she shrugged.  
They continued on through the kitchen, which she was familiar with. She noticed that he’d of course already cleaned up the bloody footprints she’d left behind.  
They went up one of the staircases to the second floor. Stopping at an open door he told her, “This is the guest room, you can stay here.” It was kind of plain, and he told her, “If you want to personalize it, you can.”  
Kai looked at him. “I’ll have to go home at some point. I can’t stay here forever.”  
Balty ran a hand through his graying hair as he set down her suitcase. “I know. But I meant it when I said you could stay as long as you want, that I’d love the company.”  
Kai put the suitcase on the bed and opened it. Right on top were his sweat pants and top, neatly folded, with the Gucci slides on top. Taking them out all together, she handed them to him. “Thanks for the clothes and shoes. I would have had to try and sneak out in that stupid butt gown they give you in the hospital. My ass would be on the front page of the National Enquirer with some horrible caption about my hail damaged cellulite ass. Dimples are only cute on the cheeks on your face!”

Balty looked at her smiling. “You’ve got dimples. I mean on the cheeks on your face, of course.”  
“Ugh, I know. I never liked them.”  
“Why not?”  
“When you get older, those dimples turn into lines.”  
He sat on the bed as she unpacked and put away her things. “I don’t think you have to worry. I can’t see any lines on your face. Damn, you look way younger than me. With my old man gray hair.”  
“Oh stop!” Kai admonished him. “You’re a silver fox and you know it. How do you think you were able to date all those young hotties?”  
“Because I’m famous and have a lot of money.”  
Okay, he had a point. But he sure wasn’t ugly, even a blind woman could see that.

He watched as she paused to look at her reflection in the mirror above the dresser. She had been smiling at their conversation, but he watched her face fall when she saw her own reflection. She was still bruised up, and had a bandage on the side of her head from the stitches. She turned away from the mirror and leaned back against the dresser, head down.

Balthazar got off the bed and walked over to her. “Kai?” She just kept her eyes on the floor. “Kai,” he said, taking her hands in his. “Look at me.” At first she just shook her head no. “Come on, Kai. Please.”  
She looked up at him and he could see so many emotions on her face: fear, anger, uncertainty.  
“I know it doesn't seem like it, but everything is gonna be ok.”  
“My life is falling apart,” Kai said softly. “How can you possibly think that anything will be ok for me?”  
In one scene they’d had on the show. Balthazar’s professor had asked Kai’s character, “How can you compete with all these young students?” And her character said, “Because I’m damn smart. That’s how.”

He said that to her. “Because I’m damn smart. That’s how.” Kai got the reference immediately, and gave him a smile. “Hey, that’s MY line.”  
“Not today it isn’t. Why don’t we go downstairs and I can make you some pancakes, little lady.”

Balthazar wasn’t a bad cook at all. He made pancakes since Kai hadn’t had any breakfast, and she filled him in on the asshole manager at the hotel.  
“Oh man, I hate that guy!” Balty said. “I’ve had to deal with him a few times. He kisses your ass until something goes wrong. I did some DJ gigs there, and at one point, the sound totally cut out. We were trying to figure out what was up, and instead of dealing with it, he was like, ‘not my problem’. Turned out the wiring in the banquet room we were in wasn’t the best, and he knew it. Instead of getting it upgraded, he tried to say it was our fault for overloading the circuits. Too bad for him that the electricians who checked it out could tell that the shit was old and bad. I said I’d never go there again, and I haven’t. But I kind of want to go back and punch his greasy face for being such an ass to you.”  
“Believe me, it was hard for me not to,” Kai admitted.  
“Well, that’s all over now. Now you get to just relax and heal up.”

Suddenly both of their cell phones went off with texts at the same time. They looked at each other then grabbed their phones.

“Well, damn,” Balty said, reading his phone.  
“That’s...unfortunate,” Kai agreed, looking at the same message on hers.

A writer’s strike had just started. “Mastermind”, along with every other show in Hollywood, was on indefinite hiatus.

They were both surprised and not. The writer’s had been grumbling a bit here and there, but nobody had heard anyone utter the word “strike”. There had been a writer’s strike once, back in 2007. The strike had lasted three months, and created a glut of “reality” shows, which Kai hated. It seemed like they hired the stupidest and most obnoxious people to be on these shows. These people would then do just about anything afterward to hold onto their 15 minutes of fame, trying to parlay it into an acting career, but they rarely had any talent for anything besides being jerks.   
In any case, the two of them were now out of work.  
“Kai, are you gonna be ok without working?” Balty asked her. He didn’t know her financial situation, it was none of his business, but with everything that had happened to her, he didn’t need her to lose what she’d worked so hard for.  
She just laughed. “I’m fine! I haven’t spent hardly any of the money I’ve made. Just the essentials: food, transportation, and rent. The only expensive thing I bought was my car. I saved just about every cent I’ve made. Even my gold pen was a gift….” she trailed off. That damn pen. No way was it the fault of the pen that everything happened, but her attachment to it was a different matter.  
She had gone quiet, and Balty reached over and touched her hand. “You ok?”  
“That damn pen…” she said, then started to cry.

He knew about it. It was a proud possession for her. It was something she’d wanted for years, and her old coworkers had gotten it for her. He still remembered her showing it to him. “Isn’t it pretty?” she’d said. “I’ve always wanted one of these.” It was such a simple thing, and it gave her such joy. Now she was always going to associate it with what happened.   
Balty wasn’t sure what to say. What could he say? Something stupid, like, “Hey, it’s still a nice pen!” Or maybe, “You should get rid of it.” Both sounded lame and insensitive. Kai looked up and him, and he said exactly what he was thinking. “I want to say something nice and supportive, but I’m not sure what that is.”  
He looked so confused, Kai couldn’t help it. She started to giggle. Then she started to laugh. Balty laughed, too. Soon they were in his kitchen laughing over how absurd everything was at the moment. Kai had just gotten out of the hospital, they were both out of work, and here they were, concerned over a pen.

Kai’s phone rang again. It was Officer Casey. That was odd, they’d just parted ways less than two hours earlier. As soon as Kai answered it, the officer told her, “We may have a problem. Steve Murphy claims to have no memory of last night.”  
“That’s bullshit!” Kai screamed at the phone. “He’s saying that to get out of taking responsibility for what he did.”  
“Normally I’d agree, but there’s something else.”  
“What are you talking about?”  
“At the hospital, they took blood to determine his blood alcohol level. It was above .08. So legally he WAS drunk, but…” the officer trailed off.  
“What else?” Kai asked.  
Officer Casey took a breath. This was going to throw a monkey wrench in everything. “We found cocaine.”  
Kai went cold. Steve may drink, sometimes to excess, but drugs were NOT something he messed with. Especially not those.  
“Cocaine?” Kai whispered.  
“Kai, he claims he was dosed.”


	8. Chapter 8

Balty got worried when she said the word “cocaine”. He didn’t know why that word was coming out of Kai’s mouth, he could only hear her side of the conversation, but he was getting a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Steve’s story was that he was going to the hotel to see Kai. He had left early, and stopped at some dive bar for a drink. Officer Casey said that Steve admitted that he shouldn’t have, that he did it because he was nervous, that he’d planned one drink, no more. “He had the one drink,” Officer Casey said. “Allegedly some trashy girls offered to buy him another. He said at first he tried to refuse, but they were fans, yadda yadda. So he had a second, then he’s pretty sure he had a third, but he said it got blurry after that second one.”  
“So some trashy hos dosed him? That’s his story?”  
“His blood test backs it up, Kai. Has he ever done drugs that you know of?”  
“No,” Kai admitted. “He was afraid. He tried a few in his 20’s that floated for free, but they scared him. Too many people he knew in Hollywood that OD’d or died or ended up on the skids because of it. He didn’t want that to happen to him. Drinking is one thing, but drugs are another thing entirely.”  
“Right,” Officer Casey agreed. “We’re going to find the bar he said he went to and see if the bartender remembers him or these girls. If the girls exist, we need to find them. If he’s telling the truth, this could change everything. Believe me, it doesn’t change what he did to you, you still suffered, you could have died. There is no disputing that. But...this is a big mess.”  
“Well, thanks for letting me know,” Kai said, wanting to get off the phone.  
“Wait,” the Officer said. “There’s more. The judge set a $500,000 bail. And he made it.”  
“WHAT?” Kai screamed.   
“I’m sorry, Kai. His lawyer bailed him out, but there are stipulations in place to keep you safe.”  
“Like what?” Kai said angrily. “A restraining order? Abusers walk through that paper all the time to finish the job, and you damn well know that!”  
“Kai, calm down and listen to me!” the officer said. “He still has no idea where you are or who you are with! That alone is a huge safety measure. He also is not to contact you in any way: no phone calls, texts, letters, nothing. He is also to keep at least 500 feet from you, your place of work, your home, your car, everything. If he sees you walking down the street, he needs to turn around and walk the other way. And you don’t contact him, either.”  
Kai asked, “Why would I want to?”  
“It’s not unheard of,” Officer Casey told her. “After a few days or weeks, you may want answers. Do not contact him under any circumstances. This could ruin a case if you go to court. Are you going to court?”  
“I think I have to.”  
“Okay. If he contacts you in any way, let us know immediately. I’ll be in touch with you in a few days. I’m sorry about all this, Kai.”

She hung up the phone, and just sat there looking at it on the counter. She looked up and met Balthazar’s eyes. She needed to tell him everything that was said, and did. He got madder and madder. Fucking dosed by some mysterious “trashy girls”. If that dumb bastard hadn’t stopped in the first place, none of this would be going on. 

Kai looked up at him. “What do I do? I mean, I just feel like I should be doing something, but I don’t know what.”  
“All you should be doing right now is resting and healing up. I know you want to ‘do’ something, to be proactive, but there’s really nothing, Kai. I’d love to tell you something different, but I can’t.”  
“This is a big mess. If he’s telling the truth, it changes everything.”  
“It doesn’t change a damn thing, Kai! He still hurt you, tried to kill you, then threatened you when you got away!” he said, his voice rising with anger.  
“I know that!” Kai yelled right back. “But if he was drugged, maybe he wasn’t in control!”

They sat quietly in the kitchen, neither saying anything, both lost in their own thoughts. Finally Kai said, “Can we just watch TV or something? Something normal and ordinary?”  
“Sure thing,” Balty said smiling as he led the way to the living room. Something normal and ordinary was what he strived for in his house, away from all the crazy weirdness that was L.A. and Hollywood.  
He led the way into his living room and turned on his big screen TV. Turning his back to it to face her as she settled on the couch he said, “I’ve got just about every channel known to man and half a dozen streaming services which is funny considering I hardly ever watch TV…” he trailed off. She had turned pale, eyes fixed on the TV, as she said softly, “Oh my god…”

The TV had turned on to whatever channel had TMZ, and there was Kai on the screen, clear as day. It showed her leaving the hospital in his clothes wearing the beanie and large sunglasses the police had gotten for her, head down, as every news person shoved their microphones in her face. She kept her head down, but even with the sunglasses, you could see marks on her face. One of the female TMZ “reporters” was saying, “She went straight from Cedars-Sinai to Hotel Sunset Boulevard. While there she changed her clothes, then she left there and we have no idea where she went, the police blocked us from following her. Some of us were staked out near her place, but she never showed up there.”  
The slimy head guy at TMZ said, “Did you find out anything else?” with a devious smile on his face. Both Kai and Balthazar wanted to punch him. The female happily said, “Yes we did! It appears that her ex-boyfriend, Steve Murphy, checked into a different hospital, Southern California Hospital...with a STAB WOUND in his arm! And if you run the footage back of Kai, she looks like her face is bruised! So something definitely went down between them!” The scumbag head guy laughed and said, “I knew they wouldn’t last!”  
Balty turned it off, mumbling, “Sorry.”  
Kai sighed. “It’s ok. We knew it was coming. It’s not like they weren’t gonna run it. Anything they can do to get views I suppose. And it’s only gonna get worse with the writer’s strike. They’ll be looking for anything on anyone.”

Her phone rang, and she spent the next 2 hours in a call with her manager while they discussed everything. She had to tell someone again what had happened, reliving it. Balty busied himself around the house, periodically checking in on her, but wanting to give her some space and privacy. He wished he knew where Steve lived, so he could go send some goons to kick his ass and see how he liked it. At one point, he heard Kai yelling into the phone, “No! Absolutely not! I won’t do it and you can’t make me, I don’t care if you are my manager!” Then a few minutes later, “Fine, I’ll think about it. No I won’t tell you where I am right now, the fewer people that know the better. I need to go, this whole thing is exhausting me.” She hung up without saying goodbye.  
When Balty came in after she hung up, she had her head in her hands. Looking up, she told him, “My manager wants me to have a press conference and tell what happened. I told her absolutely not. I don’t want to blast this out there. It doesn’t matter what I say anyway.”  
“Sure it does, Kai. Your fans will support you.”  
She looked at him like he was crazy. “Remember when Chris Brown beat the crap out of Rihanna? They were stupid bitches all over Twitter saying, ‘Chris Brown can beat me up anytime!’ They literally put that out in public, as if getting the crap beat out of them by him was some sort of turn on! I don’t run my own social media platforms, my manager does, thank god, but I know that shit like that is probably already showing up. It makes me sick.” 

Balthazar knew that she needed to speak, to say something to her public. “Kai, what if you just release some kind of statement via your manager? I think it would be beneficial for you and for your fans, so they can stand by you and support you. All they know is that you stabbed your ex. They don’t know why. You need to let them know that you didn’t want to, but you HAD to. Your life was at stake.”  
Kai hesitated. “I don’t want to paint him as a killer, and I don’t want to look like some weak victim.”  
Balty sighed, “I’m about to say something you really aren’t going to like, but it’s the truth: the only reason he ISN’T a killer is because you stabbed him to get away, and are sitting right here, still alive.”

He was right. She didn’t like it.

“What the fuck is your problem?” she all but screamed at him. “Would you have rather I let him finish the job?”  
She tried to storm out, but he grabbed her and wouldn’t let her go, although she struggled against him. “God dammit, Kai! Calm down! You’re my best friend, and I love you with all my heart, you know that! And I am 100% damn happy that he didn’t succeed!”  
The fight went out of her and she just started to cry. Not knowing what else to do, he just stood there with her, arms around her.  
“Everything’s gonna be okay, girl. You’re nice and safe here.”  
“I can’t stay here forever,” she sniffled miserably.  
“Why not?”  
“Because I can’t.’  
Balty pulled back and looked at her. “But...why? I mean, really? I have the room. I have fences and walls, a security system, cameras, why not?”  
Kai looked at him and realized that she really didn’t have a good reason. “I can’t just move in with you, I have a place of my own. I signed a lease.”  
“So keep your place. You can go back if or when you want to. But for the most part, for the time being, just stay here. Until things calm down a bit. Until you feel safe.”  
The more Kai thought about it, the more sense it made. Even in the halls of her apartment complex, just going to get the mail or whatever, she always ran into neighbors. She didn’t need them to ask her questions or whisper behind her back, or God forbid talk to the media. ‘Yeah, I live in her building and her face is kinda messed up!’ Hell no.  
“I’d need to go to my place and get clothes, I only have enough for a few days.”  
“Okay, we can go tomorrow.”  
“So that’s it?” Kai asked.  
“That’s it,” he smiled.


	9. Chapter 9

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, thankfully. They went to bed early. Kai didn’t sleep well at all. That night at the hospital she hadn’t been in much pain, likely the leftover adrenaline. But now she was feeling every bump and bruise. To top it off, the night was a bit windy, and every time leaves rustled, she was sure it was Steve coming for her. She knew he wouldn’t, and couldn’t really, he had no idea where she was, and even if he did, that would be a very bad idea. But she couldn’t help it.  
Balty wasn’t sleeping well either. He was worried about Kai. He even had a nightmare that she had called him from the hotel for help. That he drove down there at top speed, opening the door to her room too late, seeing her dead body strewn across the bed, eyes open, staring blankly at nothing. He shocked awake from that one in a cold sweat. He had to remind himself that she was here, safe and sound, in his house just down the hall. He had to talk himself out of going to check on her.  
Morning came too soon for both of them. They shuffled quietly into the kitchen for coffee, each noticing the bags under the others eyes. “Um, do you want me to make you some pancakes or eggs or something?” Balty asked.  
“Nah, I’m not a big breakfast person, to be honest. The pancakes were nice yesterday, but it was late morning. Just coffee is good for me.”  
“Yeah, I’m the same way.”  
They drank their coffee and started to plan their day. Balthazar suggested taking his Lambo to her place. It had tinted windows, so it would be harder to be seen inside. She could grab her clothes and whatever other things she needed for her extended stay.  
“I was thinking about what you said yesterday, about releasing some kind of statement,” Kai said. “I think maybe I should. It may take me awhile to decide what to say, but I need to do it. For myself if nothing else, to set the record straight.”  
Balthazar was proud of her, he knew that had been a hard decision.

When they got ready to go to her place, he could see how nervous she was. He really had to gently nudge her along. “Kai, it’s going to be fine. We’ll just get your stuff and come right back. No other stops.”  
“What if they see us? The TMZ people said some reporters were staked out by my place. What if they see?”  
She was right, they might still be there, with their damn invasive telephoto lenses. “You said yourself that they would find out sooner or later. And they WILL. It just may be sooner than you’d like. Let’s be honest though, if they find out you’re here, the rumor mill WILL start. They’ll say we’re together. And people will say what they want, no matter what. Personally I don’t care.”  
“You don’t?”  
“Why should I care what people think if I’m shacking up with the prettiest woman in prime time? It’ll make this old man look pretty damn good!”  
Kai laughed at that. She knew he was right, people would talk no matter what. It didn’t matter what they said or did. Even if she went home right now, if anyone saw that he had dropped her off, the rumor mill would start. “Fuck it,” she told him. “Fuck everything they say, I don’t care either. Let’s go, we’ve got shit to do.”

They got in his car and he punched the address she gave him into his GPS. She put on a brave face, but he could see that the farther they got from his house, the more nervous she got. She was starting to unconsciously slouch down a bit in her seat. He reached over and patted her hand. “We’re almost there, you’re doing great.”  
They turned down her street, and Balty saw it. She probably wouldn’t even have noticed, but he’d been doing this a LOT longer than she had. A generic white cargo van.   
“Kai, I hate to break it to you, but I think TMZ is still staking your place out.”  
“What? Where?”  
“This van we’re about to pass.”   
As they passed it, Balty checked his side views, and saw two guys in the front seat, one with binoculars trained on her place.  
“Yeah, that’s them all right,” Balthazar said with disgust.  
Kai realized that from where they sat, they would have a clear view of her front door, and anyone coming or going. “We’re going to be on TV tonight,” she said, sadly. “I’m sorry, Balty.”  
“Hey, I told you I didn’t care and I don’t. Prettiest woman in prime time, remember?” At least that got a smile out of her.  
They pulled up to the guard box, and Kai had to pretty much climb over Balty so the guard could see her. Henry, the guard, told her, “Some news guys tried to get in here the other day. Said they had an interview scheduled with you. I knew they were lying. Told them to have you call me and then I’d let them in. They ain’t been back.”  
“They’re parked up the street,” Kai told him.  
“Yeah, I saw. Called the cops, but they ain’t breaking any laws by parking on a public street. I did what I could,” he told her, as he lifted the metal bar to let Balthazar’s car enter.  
“Thanks Henry, I appreciate it.”  
Balty drove to the parking spot she directed him to. She took a deep breath. “You can wait in the car, if you want. Less of a chance of them seeing you.”  
“Let me ask you this: do YOU want me to wait in the car?”  
“Honestly, no,” she told him. “I mean, I know Steve isn’t hiding in my place, waiting to pop out and get me, but….” she trailed off.  
“You’re still a little spooked?” Balty offered. She just nodded.

Before leaving, she had put on her beanie hat and oversized sunglasses. He reached over and adjusted the hat, and said, “Let’s go get your stuff.” They got out and walked up the steps to Kai’s front door. As she unlocked it, he could practically hear a camera shutter clicking. They walked in and he looked around. It was a cute little complex, that was for sure. Her place was nice and bright, with a good sized open kitchen. Her furniture looked clean and comfortable. He walked over to her sliding glass doors, and saw a pool below. She was in her room, and he called out, “That’s a pretty nice pool.”  
“I wouldn’t know, I’ve never used it.”  
He walked to her room, but stopped short at the door. She had a suitcase on her bed and was putting clothes into it. Looking at him, she said, “What’s wrong?”  
“It’s your room. I feel like I shouldn’t enter unless I’m invited or something.”  
She started laughing. “What are you, a vampire? You can’t come in unless you’re invited? Consider yourself invited, come in here!”  
He stepped in. “How come you’ve never been in the pool?”  
“Because as nice as my neighbors seem to be, I wouldn’t put it past them to sell a picture of me in a bathing suit to a magazine. Then the magazine would make fun of what a fat ass I am.”  
Balthazar was stunned. “Kai, you are NOT fat!”  
“By Hollywood standards I am. I’m also way old. I’m surprised they wanted an actual woman in her 40’s, and an unknown one at that, for this show.”  
He knew she was right. As far as he could tell, Kai had a great figure, and she had no lines on her face. But in Hollywood, as men aged they became “sexy” and “distinguished”. Women were just considered “old”. Fuck that. Betty White hosted Saturday Night Live and she was in her 90’s, and he thought Helen Mirren, Cher, and Dolly Parton were still sexy as hell and they were in their 70’s!  
Kai went into her bathroom and grabbed a few extra toiletries. She made sure all the blinds in the apartment were closed. She reached to pull the suitcase off the bed, but Balty told her, “I’ve got it.”  
“It’s kind of heavy. I sort of packed everything.”  
“No worries.” He picked it up, and it wasn’t nearly as heavy as he expected. They walked out, and this time, Kai said, “I can just feel them watching us, you know?”  
“Yeah, I know. Bastards.”  
As they left, Henry told her, “I’ll keep an eye on your place until you come back. Been watching it like a hawk already.”

As they pulled away, they passed the TMZ van again, and this time the guy was out standing next to it and took photos as they drove by.  
“Fucking vultures,” Kai mumbled.


	10. Chapter 10

They got back to Balthazar’s place, and ever the gentleman, he carried her suitcase up to the guest room. ‘Kai’s room,’ he thought to himself. She could stay there forever, and he wouldn’t have a problem with it. She’d only been there overnight, but he felt like she belonged there.   
He put her suitcase next to the bed, so she could unpack whenever she was ready. She sat on the bed and looked at the floor. He sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. He softly said, “Everything is going to be okay, Kai. I promise you.”  
“It’s just such a mess,” she said. Her phone rang and she answered it.  
“Hello? Oh hi…...what? WHAT? WHAT THE FUCK?!....What channel?...okay bye.” Turning to Balthazar, she said, “Channel 7, right now.” He grabbed the remote off of the nightstand and turned on the TV. There sat Steve fucking Murphy, giving a damn press conference.  
His shoulder was bandaged, but other than that, he looked no worse for the wear. Kai on the other hand…..that slimy bastard.  
Apparently someone had asked him if Kai was the one who injured him.  
“Yes, Kai stabbed me in the shoulder with a pen. She alleges I attacked her in her hotel room at Hotel Sunset Boulevard, but I have no recollection of the event. I stopped for a drink at a bar and my drink was dosed with cocaine. I, however, would like to extend my sincerest apologies to Kai for any physical or mental pain I have caused her. I know she was in the hospital overnight. I loved Kai, I still love her. Her breaking up with me broke my heart. I was going to her hotel to ask for another chance when the incident happened. I would never willingly hurt her.”  
Kai was stunned. “That motherfucker!” she yelled. “He’s making himself out to be the victim! ‘Oh poor me, I was heartbroken and dosed, so it’s not my fault that I tried to kill my ex.’ How dare he!”  
“Calm down, sweetie,” Balty said. “You said you were going to release a statement. You can rebut everything he said.”  
“Fuck that!” she said. “He wants to play the victim, it’s not gonna work. I’ll do a press conference as well, and people can SEE what he did!” With the bruises on her face and throat, it was plainly obvious she’d been through hell.  
She called her manager and set everything up for later that day, just in time for the evening news.   
She spent most of the day busying herself as much as possible. She put away her things, and she and Balty went over some of the invasive questions they’d likely ask.   
The press conference was going to be held in the banquet room of a nearby hotel, and they arrived 30 minutes early, via a back entrance. Kai peeked out and was stunned at how many news outlets were actually out there.  
Katie, her manager, told her, “His press conference made quite a stir, but nothing like THIS.” Kai was shaking. Balty told her, “You’ve got this. Just be honest. You aren’t a victim, you’re a survivor.”

Her manager went out and just announced that yes, there had been a physical altercation between Kai and Steve Murphy. That Steve had felt the need to go to the press and make himself look like a victim. However, Kai bore the physical marks of his brutality from that evening, and was brave enough to come out and tell the story that Steve allegedly had no memory of.  
Kai walked out then, still wearing her beanie and big sunglasses, and she had placed a fashionable scarf around her neck.  
“Hello everyone,” she spoke softly into the microphone. “I’m Kai Porter, and I’m an actress on the show ‘Mastermind’...which is on indefinite hiatus due to the writer’s strike.” With the exception of camera shutters clicking, everyone was silent.  
“Steve Murphy claims to have no memory of attacking me,” she said, and she took off her oversized sunglasses, making her bruise on one cheek and handprint on the other very visible. A gasp went through the crowd, and camera shutters clicked incessantly. “There was indeed cocaine found in his system,” at that point, she removed the hat, and the bandaged stitches on her scalp caused another gasp and more cameras clicking. The TV cameras were zooming in on her. “However, he has one wound. I did stab him with a pen. I don’t deny that in the least. I did it in self-defense, he was trying to choke me to death, and I did it to get away,” she finished, pulling off the scarf, where the large fingerprints on her neck were visible. Another gasp went up, cameras clicking, reporters, photographers, and cameramen all jostling for a closer look.  
She felt naked up there, but at the same time, finally felt at ease. No more hiding it. She looked over at Balty, who was hiding in the wings, and he smiled at her. He was proud of her bravery.  
Kai spoke into the microphone again. “Does anyone have any questions?” Everyone started shouting questions at once, finally one called over the din.  
“Was Steve telling the truth that he was coming to see you? Did you know about that?”  
“Yes, he was,” Kai said. “I was at the hotel because my apartment was being painted. He had a few things of mine and asked if he could return them and maybe we could have dinner, but he didn’t show up until two hours later than he was supposed to. A hotel employee told him what room I was in, he came in when I opened the door to his knock, and then he refused to leave.”  
Again the cacophony of yelling, then one voice above others. “Will you be taking him to court over this?”  
“Yes, I will be pressing assault charges on him at the very least, possibly attempted murder.”  
Again yelling, then, “Is it true you are staying with your ‘Mastermind’ co-star, Balthazar Getty?”  
Kai froze. That was one question she should have expected, but didn’t. She must have looked confused, so another reporter said, “TMZ posted a video today of him accompanying you to your apartment and you both leaving moments later in his car with a large suitcase.”  
Kai looked at Katie, but Katie didn’t know anything about that, Kai hadn’t told her where she was staying, even though she’d asked. Then she gave a questioning look to Balthazar in the wings. ‘Should I tell them?’ she seemed to be asking. He gave her a nod. He was ok with it if she was.  
Taking a deep breath, Kai said, “Balthazar Getty is my co-star and my best friend. When I ran from the hotel I called him and he told me to come over and he called the police for me. I spent the night in the hospital. Afterward, I couldn’t go back to the hotel, and I was afraid to go home, and he graciously opened his home to me, as any friend would. It is very secure, and I feel safe there. So yes, I am staying in his guest room for the time being.”  
Yelling, among the reporters, then, “So are you and Mr. Getty romantically involved?”  
“Absolutely not!” Kai said. “As I stated before, he is my best friend. Males and females are perfectly capable of having platonic relationships.”  
They asked a few questions about the show, which Kai answered. Katie could see that Kai was getting exhausted, and ended the press conference. Kai thanked everyone for coming and letting her say her piece, and they yelled questions at her after she left, but she ignored them.  
As they headed toward the back entrance, Katie said, “You should have told me you were staying with Balthazar.”  
“I didn’t want anyone to know. I was scared. I still am.”  
“Well everyone knows now! Dammit Kai, I’m your manager! I should have been notified of everything as soon as possible after it happened! We still have to find a lawyer for you since you’re insisting on going to court!”  
Kai stopped in her tracks and turned to face her manager. “First of all, you are my manager, not my mother. You don’t need to know where I am every single second. I was going to tell you tonight but you found everything out anyway, didn’t you? And as for my ‘insisting’ on going to court...YOU’RE GODDAMN RIGHT I AM! Why can’t anyone seem to understand that I almost died? He almost killed me, Katie! Have you ever been nearly raped, beaten, and almost strangled to death by someone who kept screaming at you that they loved you? Because it’s fucking terrifying!” Kai was almost in tears.  
Katie held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, Kai. You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ve never been in that situation and I hope to god I never am. You must have been so frightened. I’ll find the best lawyer we can-”  
“She can use my family lawyer,” Balthazar replied. “Harold Xavier. He’s the best there is. I’ll take care of it. And I’ll make sure she keeps you in the loop as well.” He said, then stepping in Katie’s personal space, he said very firmly, “ But don’t ever talk to her like that again, or we’ll have words, understand?”  
Katie nodded, embarrassed. “Of course.”  
Balthazar led the sniffling Kai out the back to his car.


	11. Chapter 11

By the time they had gotten home, Kai was not sniffling but she had her head down the entire time. As they pulled in the gates, he told her softly, “We’re home.” She raised her head and just said, “Nobody gets it. I mean, I hope it never happens to anyone, but it seems like they won’t care unless it does. The hospital and the hotel were more worried about their own reputation and me suing them than they were about the fact that my information got out and my personal safety was compromised. Even my own manager was more pissed that she didn’t know that I was at your house than the fact that….ugh, I’m sick of saying it.”  
She’d had to repeat over and over to people the last few days that she had almost died, like they weren’t aware of it, because they just didn’t give a damn. “They don’t care,” she said again. “Maybe I shouldn’t either. Maybe I should just drop it.”  
They had just been sitting in the car. Balthazar turned to her, “Is that really what you want?” he asked her.  
“I want it to just...go away. To have never happened.”  
“That’s impossible, sweetie.”  
“I know. I just...I can’t stop thinking about it. Last night every time the wind blew, I was sure I heard his footsteps coming for me. I know he can’t, and he won’t. But is that what the rest of my life is supposed to be? Being scared of my own shadow? Always looking over my shoulder? What kind of a life is that? Half of me thinks I’m overreacting, the other half thinks I’m under-reacting, and I just wish I didn’t have anything to react to! I wish I was just at Hotel Sunset Boulevard, counting the days until I could go back to my apartment and go back to work and just have everything the way it was. Instead, I’m invading your space because I’m just too damn terrified to be alone for even a moment!”  
She was kind of freaking out. Here they were, in Balthazar’s car in his safe and secure little compound, and his best friend who he loved dearly was losing it. He didn’t know what to do.  
“Kai, please calm down for a second!”  
She turned to look at him. That’s when he noticed it. She was literally having a real panic attack. Her eyes were wide, she was shaking and sweating.  
He grabbed her hands in his and looked in her eyes. “Ok honey, I think you’re having a panic attack.”  
“I’m just scared! Isn’t that normal?” she was really freaking out.  
“Kai, stop for a second. Look at me. Everything is fine. You aren’t alone, you won’t be alone, because you’re with me. I will stay right by our side 24/7 if that’s what you need. I’m not going anywhere. You’re here, you’re with me, and you are 100% safe. I need you to understand that, ok?”   
She was breathing short, quick breaths and was getting pale. “Kai,” he said softly, “you need to slow down your breathing or you’ll hyperventilate, and we don’t want to go back to the hospital, right?” She shook her head no. “Breathe with me. In, 1,2,3, and out, 1,2,3…” Kai matched her breathing with his and her color started to come back. Her hands slowly stopped shaking, and she seemed to start to calm down. She closed her eyes, and kept breathing with his count. After a few minutes, she opened her eyes. They started to fill with tears. “Balty, I’m so sorry! That’s never happened-”  
“Kai, it’s okay. It was a panic attack. You can’t stop them, you can only ride them out. I’ve had friends who had them before, I’ve even had one or two myself. They can really blindside you.”  
“I felt like you were about to walk away.”  
“Panic attacks play tricks with your mind, I would never do that to you. Are you ready to go inside?”  
“I think so.”  
Balty leaned over and pulled her close until their foreheads were pressed together. “We’re a team, girl. I will always be here for you.”  
She gave him a sweet smile. “Okay.”

A few days later, she and Balty were in the fancy office of Balty’s lawyer, Harold Xavier. He was a warm man, welcoming them into his big office with his friendly demeanor.  
As they sat down, he told her, “Miss Porter, I am so very sorry for what you’ve been through. It must have been horribly traumatizing.”  
“Please call me Kai. And, well...it’s not a fond memory.”  
He nodded sympathetically. “I’ve received the police report and have gone over it. Unfortunately, I need you to tell me, in person, exactly what happened.”  
It was exactly what Kai was afraid of , and the last thing she wanted to do. “But why? You have the police report. Can’t Balthazar tell you instead? He knows the story, he was there when I told the police.”  
“He could only tell me his side of the story if he had been a witness. Obviously he wasn’t or this never would have happened. I’m really sorry about this, Kai, but I have to hear you say it to me, out loud, so I can corroborate it against what the police report says. This is to make sure they are accurate. If anything isn’t matching up, we can figure out why.”  
“You mean if I’m lying,” she said flatly.  
“No, Kai, that is definitely NOT what I mean. Sometimes police reports have mistakes. Better for us to find them now and have the officers correct them than to have them come out in court when you’re on the stand.”  
Kai looked down at her hands. “Okay. I’m sorry. I just hate talking about it. And thinking about it. And remembering it. Where do you want me to start?” she asked.  
“Why don’t you give me some background on your relationship first.”

Kai told him about how she met Steve at the Hollywood party. How he swept her off her feet. Both the lawyer and Balthazar noticed the little smile when she recalled the happy times. Then the smile fading as it got into the not so happy times, with Steve’s drinking problem.  
Harold listened quietly, making the occasional note on a yellow legal pad, then stopped her. “It says here that he got physical with you once before the assault, and that Mr. Getty was a witness to that. Can you tell me more about that?”   
Kai hated to bring it up, it was all so stupid, but she told him about the time Steve had grabbed her. “He was drunk, and I really don’t think he meant to grab me that hard.”  
“But he did,” Balthazar muttered.  
Kai rolled her eyes, “Yes, he did. But the point is that we’d already started fighting at that time, and sometimes our fights got pretty heated: lots of yelling and screaming. But even then, he NEVER got physical or physically threatening with me in any way. I’m not trying to make light of the situation, I’m just telling you the truth. I was never afraid of him.”  
The lawyer nodded and made a notation on his legal pad.

Then came the hard part. Talking about that night. Again.

Kai took a deep breath and started from why she went to Hotel Sunset Boulevard in the first place all the way up to getting to Balthazar’s house and telling him to call the police. She told him about the phone call from Steve in front of the police where he threatened her. She kept having to stop because she kept crying. Mr. Xavier was kind and sympathetic, handing her a box of tissues, and telling her to take her time, that they were in no rush. He had cleared the whole afternoon for them as he knew this was a sensitive case.

“I understand there were some altercations with the hospital and hotel afterward as well?” he questioned.  
“Yeah. A hotel employee was the reason Steve knew which room I was in. And a hospital employee blabbed to the media. And TMZ staked out my place and saw when Balthazar took me to get some clothes.  
“I saw your press conference, and saw that they asked you about that. I also saw Steve’s press conference.”  
Kai just nodded.  
Mr. Xavier explained that there was a fly in the ointment: his toxicology screen. “It said they found cocaine, but he denies knowingly ingesting it.”  
“Right,” Kai told him. “He said some girls dosed him.”  
“If they find those girls, if they prove they did it, the girls will get charged with drugging him. But whether or not they do, I’m sure you understand that Mr. Murphy himself will likely do little to no time. It’s very rare for celebrities to go to prison, and even if they do, they are treated like royalty.”  
“I know,” Kai said, dejectedly.  
“There is one thing I am very curious about, Kai.”  
“What’s that?”  
He brought up the stabbing, when she had stabbed him with the pen. “Why the shoulder? Why not his neck or even his face? In all honesty, he’s a strong guy, there’s a chance the pen might have not penetrated his arm.”  
Kai was quiet. She had known that sooner or later someone would ask her. She was quiet for so long, it seemed as if she wouldn’t answer. Maybe she couldn’t. Maybe she didn’t know why.  
But then she took a breath, looked Harold Xavier dead in the eye and spoke.

“Because I wanted him to stop, but I didn’t want to kill him. Because I still loved him.”


	12. Chapter 12

That was the answer that neither man expected. They both looked at her. Speaking again, she said, “I don’t love him anymore. I can’t. But at that moment, I still loved him and just wanted him to stop. I guess that sounds sad and pathetic.”  
Harold shook his head. “Not at all, Kai.” Balthazar looked at him astounded as he continued. “Plenty of battered partners, which is what you are considered right now, still love their attackers. Even during the attack, and after as well. It’s why so many of them go back.”  
“I am NOT going back!” Kai said emphatically. “Not now, not ever! It was already over for us, and had been. I don’t know what would have happened if he’d shown up like he was supposed to and we had dinner. I don’t know if he was serious about looking into rehab. But those things don’t matter. I don’t love him anymore, I don’t want to see him, and I definitely don’t want to go back to him. We are done, whether he likes it or not.”  
Mr. Xavier nodded. Balthazar was happy to hear it. He would have been worried about her forever if she went back to him.

Mr. Xavier went over the alleged cocaine dosing, and reiterated what the police said: if they found these girls and it was true, it would change everything. They went over a few more odds and ends, and then he told them, “I just need you to sign a release for the hospital to send me copies of your injuries. After that, I’ll have everything I need to start building your case.” She signed the release, muttering, “I hope this doesn’t get out to TMZ.” Mr. Xavier gave her a sympathetic smile. “Kai, I will guard those photos with my life, that I promise you. It’s why I decided to take this case myself, instead of having one of the people who work under me take it. Do you have any other questions?”  
“Actually yes,” Kai said, sitting back down. “Is there a way for the trial to be private? I don’t want a big media circus. I just...I don’t want any of this, to be honest.”  
Mr. Xavier sighed. “We can try. But if Mr. Murphy declines, it will indeed be a circus. And I’ll be honest with you, he might want the publicity, after what happened online after your press conference last night.”  
Kai and Balthazar both looked confused. Mr. Xavier said, “Kai, the internet was blowing up after your press conference, didn’t you see it?”  
“I don’t manage my social media accounts, my management does. It keeps me sane.”  
He chuckled and said, “The hashtag ‘#istandwithkai’ was trending. People believe you and are standing by you and supporting you. Other hashtags that were trending were ‘#sendstevemurphytoprison’, ‘#cancelstevemurphy’, and my personal favorite ‘#fuckstevemurphy’. I’m sure he thought his sad little press conference would exonerate him if you came forward, but it just made him look worse.”  
Kai took a deep breath and let it out slowly. At least the rest of the world wasn’t buying his shit. “That’s good to know. But I’m still not going online. There will still be fans of his supporting him no matter what and calling for my head. I don’t need that stress.”

They left and headed back to Balty’s place. Kai realized that all she felt anymore was pain and exhaustion. Getting inside, Balty asked her if she was hungry or anything. “No, just tired. Can I go look at some of the books in the library?”  
“Of course.”  
She scanned the shelves. Several of the books looked interesting, but she knew her mind couldn’t focus. Instead she pulled out “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens, and turned to chapter 8. The image of Miss Havisham and her weird lack of personal hygiene always fascinated her. She kicked off her shoes and stretched out on a couch to read.

That’s where Balty found her an hour later. Fast asleep, with the book on her chest. He came in to check on her. Rather than wake her, he just pulled the throw blanket off the back of the couch and covered her with it, turning on a small table lamp, so she wouldn’t wake up in the dark. He knew she wasn’t sleeping well, he didn’t see a reason to disturb her. He didn’t even take the book off her chest in case he woke her in doing so. Watching her sleep for a second, he got a smile. Seeing her completely relaxed in sleep made him happy, although the bruises on her face didn’t. They would fade soon, but still. She also still had the stitches on her head that would be there for another two weeks, and she walked with a small limp, still having a bit of pain from stepping on broken glass. If he thought he could get away with it, he’d send a couple of people over to beat Steve as bad as he’d beat Kai. Then he’d know all about the “physical or mental pain” he’d lamely apologized for.

Kai started awake, and looked around confused. It took her a minute to remember where she was. She looked around the library and remembered. She was at Balthazar’s house, her home for the time being. Sitting up she realized that she had a blanket covering her and a lamp had been turned on and she smiled.   
She put the book back on the shelf, the throw back on the couch, and shut off the lamp as she walked out to the living room. Balthazar was flipping through the channels absentmindedly. “Hey,” Kai said softly. When he turned to her, he smiled. “Hey Sleeping Beauty. Did you have a nice nap?”  
“Yeah, I didn’t realize how tired I was,” she told him as she stretched.  
“Well, the last few days have been...busy. How about we raid the fridge for dinner?”

In another part of town, Officer Casey was talking to the owner of the dive bar called The Lucky Monkey that Steve had gone to.  
“So you remember him?” she was asking him.  
“Sure do. We don’t get big stars like that in a place like this too often. They go to those fancy places like the Viper Room, not Lucky’s,” he told her as he washed glasses.  
“He said some girls bought him drinks, do you remember that?”  
He gave a sneer. “Yeah. Two girls, kinda trashy. They were mad because I wouldn’t let them run a tab.”  
“Really? Why not?”  
“Officer, I’ve been working in bars since I was old enough to see over the counter. I can smell a thief like a fart in an elevator. If I’d let them run a tab, the credit card would probably be bad, and they’d run out without paying anyway. I told them cash only.”  
“So you remember them buying him drinks?”  
“Yeah. Whiskey shots for the two girls, and doubles for him if I remember correctly.”  
“Did you see any of them put anything in his drink by any chance?”  
The bartender thought for a moment, then said, “No, can’t say I did. But they were sitting way over at that table in the corner. One would come over here and order the drinks and carry them back. He bought his first, then they went over and started talking to him, and he had two more on them. Once I pour the drinks, it’s out of my hands.”  
Damn. No witness, no suspect, no crime.   
Officer Casey asked, “Can you tell me anything else?”  
The bartender thought back. “He seemed a little unsteady on his feet when he was leaving. I thought it was strange. He seemed like he could handle his booze, and he’d been here for a while, but as far as I knew, he’d only had the three drinks, even if they were doubles. I asked him if he wanted me to call him a cab, but he said no, he would get it himself. The girls offered him a ride, and they started to get kind of aggressive and they seemed to be pissing him off, he was getting angry, so I told them to back off and he left. He left without them, and they were pretty mad. Groupies,” he said, shaking his head. “I heard that he went after his ex and hurt her when he left here. Honestly, if I’d had any idea...I’ve got a daughter myself, and just thinking about that makes me mad. I should have done something, but I just didn’t know….” he trailed off.  
Officer Casey smiled at the older man. “I believe you. And you are not in any kind of trouble with us. But would you be willing to help us out?”  
“Sure thing. What can I do?”  
Officer Casey gave him her card. “If those girls show up again, please give me a call. Don’t treat them any differently, don’t let them know you’ve called the police. We need to question them.”  
The bartender put her card in his shirt pocket. “You can count on me. Anything for that poor lady.”

Officer Casey drove back to the precinct. So there was some truth in what Steve said. The trashy girls buying him drinks was true. But did they dose him, or was he trying to pin something on them that they didn’t do?


	13. Chapter 13

Balty and Kai had dinner from bits and pieces of stuff in the fridge, then watched TV for a while, nothing exciting. After a while, they went up to bed.

Balty couldn’t sleep, so he turned on the TV in his room for a while.

Kai couldn’t sleep, either. She was still afraid. Finally she got up and looked down the hallway towards Balty’s room. His door was partially open,and she could see the light was on, so she padded down the hall. She knocked on his partially open door. “Balthazar?”  
He jumped out of bed and ran to the door. “I’m here! Are you ok?” He was so worried that she was embarrassed.  
“I’m ok, I just….I can’t sleep. I’m….I’m still scared. I know he can’t get me, but I can’t stop being afraid. Can I hang out here with you for a few minutes?”  
Balty didn’t say a word, just took her arm, escorted her to the opposite side of his California King bed, pulled back the covers, and said, “Hop in.”   
Kai hesitated, and looked at him. He wasn’t trying anything, she could see that on his face. She climbed in and he tucked her in, saying, “You can stay in here with me as long as you want. If you aren’t afraid of me, you can sleep here. This bed is huge, and I promise to stay on my side.”  
Kai just smiled and snuggled down in the blankets. She curled herself into a tight, tiny ball, like a little squirrel, and seeing that broke Balty’s heart. She had always joked about how she slept splayed across her bed. Seeing her doing the exact opposite, like if she made herself small enough that she would be invisible...that just about killed him.  
He climbed into bed on his side and watched TV for a while longer.   
An hour later, he decided it was time to turn in himself. Looking at Kai still curled up broke his heart all over again. There was nothing more he could do but go to sleep.

He woke the next morning, feeling a hand on his chest. Sometime in the night, Kai had reached over and grabbed onto his tank top that he’d slept in. Turning his head, he saw her, still curled up, breathing softly. She began to stir, so he closed his eyes, feigning sleep. He heard her softly exclaim, “Oh!” and quickly pull her hand away. Only then did he also stir, pretending to just wake. Rolling over to face her and opening his eyes, he smiled at her. “Sleep ok?” he asked.  
She stretched and said, “Can’t remember the last time I slept so well.”  
“Good. You are welcome to bunk in here with me anytime you want. Every night if you want.”  
“I can’t do that!”  
Propping himself up on one elbow, Balty asked, “Do we gotta go through this again? Why can’t you? We’re adults and we’re friends. We aren’t doing anything wrong, and so what if we were? People know you’re here. But they don’t know what goes on in this house, and it’s none of their business anyway.”  
Kai thought about it. He was right. Besides, the gossip rags were probably saying all kinds of stuff. TMZ probably had them swinging naked from the chandeliers. The thought made her giggle. “Well….maybe.” she acquiesced.  
“Good,” he said, throwing back the covers. “How about some coffee?”

They went down to the kitchen and Balty made coffee. Looking at her he said, “I don’t know if I should even bring it up, but...you look relaxed.”  
Kai gave him a small smile. “I think being here is why. I’m not as stressed as I would be at home. It’s like you said when I got here: all I have to do is rest and heal.”

Within a few days, they fell into an easy routine. They’d sleep together in his bed, still keeping on opposite sides, get up, have coffee, take showers, and just putter around the house. One day he even got her to put on her only bathing suit and get in the pool. That was an eye opener for sure. It was a one-piece, and fairly modest, but holy hot damn! It had these straps on the sides that made it incredibly sexy. Kai had even said, “This suit is one of the reasons I don’t go into the pool at my place!”  
He looked confused, so she explained. She had seen it in an online catalog and bought it on sale. Once she got it, she liked it, and it indeed looked like the photo, but she felt maybe it was too “racy” or “young” for her. Since she had gotten on sale, she couldn’t return it.  
“Nonsense!” Balthazar scoffed. “It’s very cute on you! You definitely have the figure for it,” he said, making them both turn pink.  
“Oh stop it!” Riley laughed.  
“Like I’ve been saying, prettiest woman in prime time,” he shot back. He meant it. The more she was around, the more he liked her being around. She made him feel happy, and he hadn’t felt that level of happiness in a long time.   
He also knew he was getting attracted to her. If he was really being honest with himself, he always had been. Kai blew into his life on a breeze of fresh air. She was so un-Hollywood. She hadn’t grown up in the madness of it all. She was kind, funny, and friendly. Everyone who met her liked her. Balthazar knew he’d been jealous when Steve Murphy came along and romanced her. He didn’t like the guy, but he convinced himself that he just wanted to make sure his friend was being treated well. When he’d seen Steve grab her, it had taken everything in him to keep from punching him out right there. He had a few inches on the guy and could have taken out his drunk ass with a few pops. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. At any rate, the closer he got to Kai, the closer he wanted to be. It was getting hard to deny it.  
After about a week, they headed back to the hospital so Kai could get her stitches out. Luckily, the news outlets had long since packed up and left, so it was fairly uneventful. They checked what was left of her bruises, and cleared her. She wouldn't need to come back again, thankfully. Kai knew it was bad, but she didn’t like to leave the safety of the “Getty compound” as she had taken to calling it. Although she knew Steve wouldn’t be stupid enough to come after her, she would probably never stop being afraid.

Just days after her hospital visit, she got some news. It wasn’t what she wanted to hear.


	14. Chapter 14

Officer Casey was doing some paperwork at her desk at 10 a.m. when she got a call on her direct line. Without even looking up, she grabbed the phone. “Officer Casey here.”   
A quiet voice said, “They’re here.”  
Officer Casey had no idea who was on the phone or what they were talking about. “Huh?”  
The voice, still quiet, said, “It’s Jake. The bartender at The Lucky Monkey. Those girls you asked about? They’re here right now.”  
Officer Casey got excited. “I’m on my way, keep an eye on them,” and hung up. On her way out, she passed by Officer Russo’s desk. “We got a line on the girls from the Porter/Murphy case!” He jumped up and they ran to a squad car.  
Officer Casey didn’t turn on the siren, she didn’t want to spook the girls in any way. They were at the bar in minutes. Russo waited outside in case either of the girls decided to bolt. Officer Casey walked in, and the bartender jerked his head to the table in the back corner. Two girls sat drinking and laughing, oblivious to everything else. She walked up to the table and said, “Good morning, ladies. Bit early for a drink, isn’t it?”  
One of the girls turned with an attitude to say something and stopped short when she saw the uniform. The other girl stood as if to bolt, and Officer Casey said, “Don’t even think about it. My partner is outside and he’s not as nice as me. I’d like you to both come to the station, we’d like to question you.”  
“We haven’t done anything wrong!” one of the girls protested. “We’re of legal age, and there’s no law against us having a drink!”  
“That’s true, but we have a witness that you were with the actor Steve Murphy at this bar just hours before he attacked his girlfriend Kai Porter. We found cocaine in his system, and he claims he was drinking with two girls that match your description, and believes they dosed his drink. So we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”  
The first girl said, “We can follow you in our car.”  
As if.  
“No,” Officer Casey told her. “You are both coming in the squad car.” She took a pair of handcuffs out of the pocket of her kit belt and said, “Who wants to be first?”  
The girls were searched outside after they were cuffed, and in one girl's purse they found a little baggie with some white powder in it.

The girls complained and protested all the way to the station, bitching about false arrest, false imprisonment, they were going to sue! Finally Officer Russo said, “Ladies, do you have any idea how much trouble you are already in? You might want to quit your screaming before we throw in resisting arrest and abuse of an officer.” Neither of those things really applied, but the girls clammed up after that. 

When they got to the station, the girls were put in a room to wait for questioning, and monitored through a two-way mirror.  
Casey and Russo couldn’t believe how stupid these girls were. Had they never seen this shit on TV? They started talking about Steve, what they had done, and how they needed to “get their story straight”. They knew what he had done, it was all over the news, but it wasn’t their fault that he went crazy!

Balthazar and Kai were hanging out in the afternoon when the front gate buzzed. They looked at each other, not expecting company.  
Balty buzzed the intercom, “Can I help you?”  
A familiar voice answered, “It’s Officer Casey with Beverly Hills P.D. Can I come in and speak with you and Kai?”  
Balty buzzed her in and met her at the door.  
“I’m sorry to come unannounced, but I wanted to speak to you two face to face.”

Officer Casey sat down with both of them. She let them know that they had found the “trashy hos” as Kai had called them. They actually found the drugs on one of the girls.   
“It’s something they do, they’ve been doing it for a few months. They go to a bar, find a mark, get him to have a few drinks with them and drug him. They get him as drunk as possible, as well as high, so he is pretty fucked up. They offer to drive him home. They drive him back to his place, usually one in his car and the other one following in their own car, take him in, and rob him blind. Money, jewelry, whatever they can find. Then they’re gone. The guy can’t even remember what happened after the booze. The next day they notice money is gone from their wallet, things are gone from their house....”  
“They admit doing it to Steve?”  
“Yeah. They knew who he was, thought he’d be a huge mark for them. Someone famous, he was bound to have money. But he didn’t want to leave with them, he wanted to see you. They tried to go with him, under the guise of ‘giving him a ride’, but the bartender told them to back off. So he WAS drugged by some girls, it’s true.”  
Kai sighed. “He’s going to get away with attempted murder.”  
“Honestly, Kai,” Officer Casey said softly, “he might. No judge or jury likes to convict a famous person.”  
Kai’s phone rang, and it was Harold Xavier, the lawyer, calling to tell her the same thing. “I’m so sorry about this, Miss Porter. But I still think we can and should go to court.”  
“But why? Nothing will happen to him! He’ll get community service and probation, if he even gets that.”  
“Miss Porter, I know you don’t watch your social media, but women are looking to you right now. How many of them do you think have been in your shoes? Probably more than we’ll ever know. You need to be brave in the face of all this for them, if not yourself. Regardless of what kind of sentence he may or may not get, you need to show everyone, Steve included, that you won’t back down. He hurt you. Don’t let him get away with it. If you back down, nothing happens. If you stand up to him, this will follow him forever. He will never get out of the shadow of hurting a woman. If you let it go, regardless of anything, people will think you lied.”

He was right. Regardless of if she won or lost, regardless of if he got off scot-free, she had to stand up to him. She had to show everyone that what he had done was NOT okay. “And I’ll tell you another thing,” Harold continued, “I got your pictures from the hospital. I know you came in here just a few days after what happened, and you still looked to be in bad shape. But those photos...they were absolutely heart-breaking. Not just because of your injuries, but because you could see the tear stains on your face and the fear that was still in your eyes. A judge and jury needs to see that. A press conference is one thing. Those pictures taken just a few hours after you were attacked are another thing entirely. Kai, please. For every woman out there who is afraid and who think they ‘deserve’ to be hurt...show them that it shouldn't be that way.”  
What he said hit home for her. What if some woman who was being hurt by someone was looking at this whole situation? If Kai gave up, what kind of message would that send? She never wanted or claimed to be a role model but she was one now.   
“We’ll go ahead with the lawsuit,” she said. Balty and Officer Casey looked at each other as Kai said that and hung up.

She filled them in on what happened. Officer Casey told her she was glad that she was going forward with the lawsuit, she said it showed that she was strong and unafraid. Kai huffed a laugh and said, “I’m still fucking terrified.”  
Balty told her, “That first night, you looked terrified. But now, I just think you’re brave.”  
“It’s easy to be brave behind the walls of the Getty compound,” Kai said.  
“Just remember,” Officer Casey said, “you’ve got FOUR police officers there to testify on your behalf: me, Officer Russo, Officer Sealy, and the cop from L.A.P.D. who arrested him. They’ll probably also subpoena the people who were working in the lobby of the hotel, not to mention the girl who told him what room you were in. The chips are stacked in your favor. Having Balthazar call us right away was probably the best thing you could have done. You got to safety and called for help. You didn’t wait a few hours or days. The timeline adds up: from when you left the hotel to Mr. Getty’s house to us arriving.”

The police officer left not long after that. Kai was so confused. She knew that going to court was right. But damn. She had pinned a lot on that story about getting dosed being an outright lie, but it was true.   
“Kai, you ok?” Balthazar asked. She hadn’t said a word since Officer Casey left, just sat there at the kitchen island, staring at the counter.  
“I haven’t been ok for a long time now,” she said softly. “All my dreams came true, and then half of them turned into nightmares. I get the job of a lifetime, then it gets taken away by the writer’s strike. I get a beautiful place to live, then I’m too afraid to go there. I even got the dream guy, but he tried to kill me. My life is a hot mess. You’re the only good thing that has come out of this, you know that? I don’t know what I’d do without you.”  
She said it with such sincerity, that Balty didn’t know what to say. He just walked over and hugged her for a long time.


	15. Chapter 15

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Los Angeles, Steve sat in his lawyer's office, angry and miserable. “You’re the one who told me to do that stupid press conference,” Steve was yelling. “Saying it would make me look like a ‘good guy caught up in a bad situation’, and all it did was make things worse! People hate me now!”  
His lawyer, Corey Miller, just shook his head. “Steve, that was days ago, why are you still harping on that?”  
“Because people still hate me, goddammit! Kai’s shacking up somewhere in Beverly Hills with Mr. Moneybags Getty, living the high life, and I’m stuck without a job in the middle of a damn writer’s strike!”  
“Steve, the writer’s strike doesn’t even affect you! Those are TELEVISION script writers, not movie script writers, and you are a movie star, not the star of some shitty little TV show like she is.”  
Steve’s eyes shot daggers at his lawyer. “Her show was #1 not only for the network but in her time slot. It wasn’t some shitty little show. And ever since this shit went public, I haven’t worked!”  
“Wait a minute,” his lawyer countered. “Weren’t you the front runner for some superhero comic book shit?”  
“I WAS. When all this shit happened, they called to let me know they couldn’t have me in the movie. That the allegations against me were ‘unbecoming of a superhero’. Nothing had been signed yet, so I don’t even have any recourse.”  
Steve couldn’t get over his anger. He was mad that he’d ever dated Kai. Mad that she’d broken up with him. Mad that, even though they’d been found, those damn girls had dosed him. Mad that he lost his big movie. Mad that, even though Kai had warned him about saving money for a rainy day, he never did, and now things were getting a bit tight. Mad that she was living with Balthazar in his big mansion. Mad that she had Harold Xavier, the best lawyer that money could buy. Corey Miller wasn’t bad per se, he was an entertainment lawyer after all, but Harold Xavier was the best. Why was Kai living the dream while he was bailing out a sinking ship? It wasn’t fair. The press conference had been weeks ago, but it was still stuck in his craw. Social media had been on his side until she gave her press conference. Suddenly he was the bad guy. It wasn’t his fault! He remembered the attack, he remembered the rage mostly, and it had seemed so unreal, like a bad dream.  
As if reading his mind, Corey said, “You still claim to only remember bits of the attack, right?”  
“Yeah,” he said miserably.  
“Well that’s good. It will help our case. And if you seem sad, contrite, even depressed on the witness stand, that will help.”  
“People hate me! Have you seen social media since Kai did her press conference? The hashtag ‘#justiceforkai’ has been trending for days.”  
“So what?” Corey scoffed. “Let’s be realistic: she is a woman in her 40’s who got lucky with a show. Eventually, probably just a year or two, her show will be cancelled, and then what? Hollywood doesn’t love older women the way they love older men. She will fade into obscurity, and YOU will be working til the day you die, if you want. Guys turn into ‘distinguished older men’, and ‘silver foxes’. Women just get old and irrelevant. What do you want with Kai’s tired old ass anyway?”

Steve was quiet, he didn’t want to admit the truth. He’d watched Kai move around that Hollywood party he’d met her at. He knew who she was, hell everyone did, and his career was faltering slightly. She was attractive enough, and he knew if he dated her, at least for a while, he could ride her coattails back to the front page. Once he got some fame and attention again, once he started getting more roles and offers, he would dump her. Leaving girls broken hearted was his stock in trade, it had never hurt his career. She would just be one in a long string of girls, collateral damage, nothing more. But she had left him. That wasn’t part of his plan. He NEVER got dumped, HE did the dumping, and his ego hadn’t taken kindly to it. He had planned to go to the hotel that night and get her back. Then in a week or two, however long it took, dump her. Maybe it was childish, but he didn’t care. Instead he got drugged and tried to kill her, which he claimed he didn’t remember much of. But he did remember. Especially one thing.  
He’d been mad.  
And he’d stayed mad ever since.

Steve and his lawyer made a plan of action. Steve was to be seen out in public. Not anywhere crazy, no night clubs or the like. Just mundane places like getting groceries or putting gas in his car - stuff he usually paid other people to do for him. “And this is key,” Corey told him. “You need to look SAD. Quit scowling for fuck’s sake! Try to look sad and upset, like you did at your press conference. Don’t engage with anyone if they start asking, just say ‘my lawyer has advised me to not comment’. If that gets back to her, she’ll know that yes, you have lawyered up and are ready to fight. When this trial hits the news, it will be a media sensation. Believe me, you won’t do any time, no matter the outcome. At most you’ll do some trash pickup on the freeways for a few days, which will be more publicity, showing that you are serving your sentence. You may have to donate money to a cause or something-”  
“What money? I’m fucking broke! I barely have enough for you, and you know it! You’re only in this to get notoriety, and don’t act like you aren’t!”  
Steve was right, of course. Corey knew he could be the next Johnnie Cochran or Gloria Allred if he played his cards right. He was depending on the media circus of this trial to make him a household name.   
“Look, Steve. Go home. In the next day or two, after you’ve calmed the fuck down, start going out. Everything is gonna be just fine.”

Harold Xavier had been a busy man working on Kai’s case. He knew that Steve would do little, if any, time. But he’d been raised to never, EVER hurt a woman, and this case made him angry. He hadn’t lied to Kai about her appearance. She HAD been in bad shape when she came in. But those photos they took at the hospital….those would break anybody’s heart. Tear-stained and bruised face, fingerprint bruises on her breasts, and a gash on the side of her head from that bastard hitting her with a goddamn phone. He’d seen pictures of what was left of the phone as it had been taken into evidence. The thing was in pieces from Steve hitting Kai with it. Steve Murphy was a monster, drugs or not. He tried to claim he “didn’t remember”. Coke didn’t work that way. It made you angry and paranoid, but it wasn’t a memory wipe like roofies. Kai had said in the police report that he had acted “super aggro”, and that sounded about right. Harold wasn’t sure he could get the previous incident of him grabbing her arm as evidence of previous abuse. There was no physical evidence such as photos. Just Mr. Getty’s account. He was going to do everything in his power to make sure he was somehow held accountable.  
There was a knock on his office door and he said, “Come in.” His secretary, Cathy said, “There’s someone here to see you.”  
Harold frowned. “I thought my afternoon was empty?”  
“Well,” Cathy said a bit sheepishly, “it is. But I think you’re going to WANT to talk to this person.”  
“Cathy, I’m working very hard on the Kai Porter case, you know that. I don’t have time-”  
“You have time for this.” Cathy said it with such finality that he quieted down instantly. Before he could say anything else, Cathy turned and said, “Please come in.”  
An attractive woman entered, obviously nervous. Cathy left the room closing the door behind her. Harold stood, and motioned to the chairs in front of his desk. “Please have a seat, miss…”  
“Gannon,” she said softly. “My name is Melissa Gannon. But everyone calls me Missy. I’m so sorry to come unannounced like this.”  
Harold racked his brain. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but he didn’t know why. “No problem at all. How can I help you?”  
“I’m here about Kai Porter’s case. I might be able to help.”  
“You have information?”  
“Yes sir,” the woman said, still nervous. “It’s been all over the news what happened to her, that Steve hurt her. REALLY hurt her.” She shuddered. “They also said that you were the lawyer representing her. I’m glad they said it, I had no idea how to get in contact with her.”  
Harold eyed her. “Are you a fan?” He didn’t think Cathy would let in just anyone, she had a great bullshit detector, it was one of the reasons he hired her. But anyone could slip up. He reached for his afternoon decaf and took a sip.  
“No! I mean, yes, I like her show and everything, but I’m not a weirdo fan trying to get close to her.” She took a breath, then said, “A few years back, I used to date Steve Murphy. He hurt me, too. And I may not be the only one.”


	16. Chapter 16

Harold nearly choked on his coffee when he heard that. That was where he knew her name! She wasn’t a starlet, she was a restaurateur, she had a few upper class places in L.A., and they were simply called “Gannon’s”, but when she dated Steve, she became more popular.  
“I remember your name now!” Harold exclaimed. “You have Gannon’s restaurants on Rodeo and on Melrose.”  
She gave a shy smile, “That’s me.”  
Her and Harold talked for a while. She had met Steve when he came into her restaurant one time, and praised the food, wanting to meet the person in charge. Missy was told, as she was in the office, and she brought the head chef out. Steve complimented his cooking skills, then complimented Missy on her beauty. “He kind of swept me off my feet,” she said. “It’s kind of his thing.”  
It sure is, the bastard, Harold thought.  
They started dating. Missy had never really been in the limelight, and didn’t care for it, but couldn’t hide. They started to argue. Missy was a more behind-the-scenes and behind closed doors type of person, while Steve wanted to be out to every club, every event, and expected her to be there with him. “It’s like I was a prop or accessory to him,” she said. “But I couldn’t be with him 24/7. I only had one restaurant at the time, and I needed to run it. I was trying very hard to make it successful. So he started mentioning it, and more people started coming. For that, I’ll be forever grateful. But the more people we had, the more work I had. I had to hire more employees, make schedules, check menus, all that behind-the-scenes stuff. We fought more and more. At one point he said if I couldn’t be there for him, he would find someone who could.” She lowered her head. “He wanted me to give up my life’s dream to be his little trophy babe.”  
The more Harold heard, the less he liked this guy.  
“Let me ask you,” Harold said. “Did he drink to excess when you knew him?”  
She laughed humorlessly. “Yes, Steve loved his whiskey, that was for sure.”  
“What about drugs?”  
Missy wrinkled her brow in thought. “None that I ever knew of. He had done some when he was younger, like in his twenties, but nothing hard…” she trailed off. That was what Kai had said as well. Harold made a few notes and told her to continue.  
“I told him that if he wanted to end it, then that was fine, we were finished. He...really didn’t like that. I don’t think he likes being dumped, but I wasn’t going to give up everything for him, I didn’t care how famous he was. We were at his place and I went to leave. I was just done with it. He’s a very draining person to date.”  
“It definitely sounds like he can be difficult,” Harold said, sympathetically.  
“So like I said, I was trying to leave. But he grabbed me by my hair and pulled me back. He started hitting me. I mean like really hitting me, not a slap. He punched me in the face! I’ve never been hit ever! And here was this guy, who was supposed to love me, hitting me! He punched me three times in the face, he broke my nose. I was crying and screaming. He slapped me a few times, and told me to shut the hell up. He pushed me and I fell down on the floor, and I just curled up into a ball and was crying.” This memory caused tears to brim in her eyes, and Harold handed her a box of tissues.  
She dried her eyes and said, “I guess it’s stupid to cry about it still, all these years later.”  
“Absolutely not, Missy. It sounds like a horribly traumatic experience.”  
“He paced by me a few times, then he said, ‘This is over. Get the hell out of my house.’ He sat down and waited for me to leave. I got up and started walking to the door. He got up and stopped me before I got to the door. He grabbed me by my throat and said, ‘You say one word to the cops about me, and I will ruin you. You won’t be able to run a drive-thru. I will destroy your life. You know I can.’ Then he turned and sat back down.”  
Harold remembered how Steve had told Kai that he’d get her blacklisted, that she’d never get another acting job if she left him. Seems like this guy had an M.O.  
“I went to the hospital and they fixed me up.”  
“Did they call the police?” Harold knew that in most cases of obvious physical assault, the police were called, whether the person wanted to press charges or not.  
“Yes, but I refused to speak to them.”  
Dammit. Harold was dejected. No proof, no crime.  
“But I took these. I don’t even know why, I knew I couldn’t fight him. But now I’m glad I did.”  
She handed Harold an envelope. Opening it, he found a small stack of photos. They had been taken with a digital camera, and were all date and time stamped. “I stopped on the way to the hospital and took these selfies with my digital camera in my car.” They were pictures of her face: a broken and bloody nose, handprints on her face from the slaps, and even a handprint on her neck, where he had grabbed her, all heartbreakingly with tears in her eyes and running down her face.  
Jackpot.  
“He scared me then, but he doesn’t anymore. The statute of limitations has expired for me to press charges. But I saw Kai’s press conference. I couldn’t just sit by and say nothing. I had to help, but I don’t know if those will. I don’t know if you can call me as a witness in court. I don’t know if he will actually suffer any consequences. But I just couldn’t ignore it. I just couldn’t,” she repeated, shaking her head.  
“Miss Gannon, I just want to tell you how incredibly brave you are for coming forward. Hopefully we can use these photos and we can call you as a witness. But even if we can’t, you have helped us establish that this wasn’t a one time thing. Some of his behavior prior to assaulting you is similar to some of the things he did in his relationship with Kai. I cannot thank you enough. You also said you might not be the only one?”  
Missy told him how afterward, she went looking for old magazines that he was in with girlfriends. “Sometimes you would see little bruises on them, they were usually covered up really well with makeup, you wouldn’t notice unless you were looking. Sometimes you would see some discoloration peeking out from a sleeve or something, most people probably didn’t even notice, thought they were just shadows or whatever. Maybe they were. But Mr. Xavier, if I were you, I’d try to find some of his other exes. There are some that are actresses, some that aren’t. In his early days, he even dated a few strippers if memory serves, they have all probably retired from dancing and may not even be in L.A. anymore. But you need to find who you can. I don’t think that Kai and myself are the only ones. Guys like that don’t assault once or twice and that’s it. They do it over and over. I’m only sorry I never went public. I was so worried about myself and my business. Maybe I could have kept this from happening.” She sounded so disappointed.  
“Missy, there is nothing you could have done. He likely would have used his connections to get your restaurant turned into a ghost town. Now you have a good, established clientele. He can’t hurt you anymore. He can’t hurt Kai anymore. And we’re going to make damn sure he thinks twice about ever hurting anyone again.”

Missy left, after that, leaving all of her contact info with Cathy. Harold buzzed Cathy on the intercom and she came in. They had already closed, but Cathy, ever faithful, had waited until Missy was gone. She came in and Harold smiled. “Good job, Cathy.”  
She smiled back. “She said she’d dated him and wanted to help Kai. I knew you’d want to talk to her. Did she have some good info for you?”  
Harold smiled and said, “She damn well did. Call your husband, I’ll call my wife. We’re going out to dinner tonight. On me.”


	17. Chapter 17

The next day Harold called Kai and told her everything about Missy Gannon. She put him on speaker so Balthazar could hear. Naturally, she was thrilled that there was more evidence. “I mean, I’m sorry she went through that, she must have been so scared,” Kai explained. “I can’t imagine being alone and having to go through that, but I appreciate her coming forward. Even if they won’t let us call her to court or use her photos I feel…..”  
“Less alone?” Harold offered.  
“Yeah. If you talk to her again, please tell her that I said thank you so much.”  
“Will do, Kai. I’m trying to see if I can track down any of his exes to see if there are more victims.”

Hanging up, Kai looked at Balthazar. “Wow,” was all she could say. Then she said, “I meant what I said about her going through it alone. I don’t know if I could have done that. I was terrified. If I hadn’t had you to run to….I don’t know what would have happened….” she trailed off.   
Balthazar didn’t admit it, but he’d thought of that, too. What if they hadn’t been such close friends? Kai, friendly as she was, also kept her personal life personal. Who would she have run to? Would she have driven to the police station? The hospital? Or would she have gone home, to the only place she thought was safe? What if Steve had gotten in there? Laid in wait? What if he’d “finished the job” as he’d threatened on the phone?  
“Try not to think about it,” Balty said, willing himself to do the same. “No point in thinking about it. You were able to come here.”  
“What if you hadn’t been home? What if you’d been on a date?”  
“I would have sent you someplace safe, like a friend’s house, until I could get to you. But more than likely, I would have left my date, and broken the speed limit and every traffic law to get to you, wherever you were.”  
Kai looked at him. “Really?”  
“Yes! Jesus, Kai. Isn’t it obvious? You mean the world to me!”  
They both stopped short when he said that. Balthazar looked at Kai. Her face was unreadable. He looked at the floor.  
“I mean the world to you?” she asked, softly.  
“You do. You kind of always have.”  
Kai was sitting at one end of the breakfast bar in the kitchen, and Balthazar was leaning back against the other end, unable to look at her. Had he just ruined everything? Why didn’t he think before he spoke? He’d been laying next to her in bed every night, watching her sleep, but he’d kept his promise, he stayed on his side of the bed. Every now and then, though, he’d wake before her, feeling her warm little body snuggled up next to him. And every time, he’d wanted nothing more than to roll over to her and put his arms around her, to pull her as close as he could. Instead, every time, he fought that urge. He would enjoy her closeness until she began to wake. He would pretend to be asleep as she scooted away from him. She always seemed so embarrassed. Of course she was. He was just a friend. It would have been no different if she had bunked with a girlfriend. In sleep her body went on auto pilot. Any safe port in a storm, nothing more.  
Or so he thought.  
Kai got off her chair and walked over to him. He still couldn’t look at her.  
“Balthazar? What are you saying?”  
“Nothing. I’m sorry, that all came out wrong.” He tried to turn away from her, but Kai wasn’t having it.  
“I don’t think that’s true,” she said softly. Huffing a soft laugh, she said, “At least I hope it’s not.”  
Balty’s head snapped up.   
She gave him a gentle smile, and again said, “Now, what are you trying to say? I won’t ask you again.”  
Balty took a breath. It was now or never. “I like you, Kai. I like you a LOT. More than a friend. I have for a long time, and-”  
He never got to finish his sentence because Kai grabbed his shirt, pulled him down to her, and kissed him.

Later that night, Harold Xavier was in his home office after dinner out. He was google searching Steve and the names of any ex-girlfriends he could find. There were indeed some actresses: some high profile, others not so much. He wrote down every last one. He would subpoena them if he had to, but really, he just wanted to talk to them in private. He saw an old article with a picture of Steve when he was just starting out in Hollywood. The caption said, “Breakout new star Steve Murphy steps out with a hot lady, identified only as Star. Sources say she is a dancer at The Pink Pussycat.”  
Bingo.  
The Pink Pussycat was practically a Hollywood institution. It was a topless bar. Harold had never been there, he didn’t see the point in looking at naked girls when he could go home to his wife who he felt was the most beautiful girl in the world anyway. But there were billboards for the place on the highway, and it stood proudly in the middle of Sunset Strip. It had a tall sign with a grinning pink cartoon cat proudly sitting under curled letters spelling out “The Pink Pussycat”. A smaller sign underneath said, “50 Beautiful Ladies Every Night, Drink Specials, Bachelor Parties Welcome!”   
Although the photo was about 10 years old, Harold just had a feeling about this Star girl. He needed to find her.

Balty and Kai were kissing in his kitchen, and he couldn’t even believe it was happening. Her lips were so warm and soft. He pulled away, saying, “You feel the same?”  
“Balty, I only dated Steve because you weren’t interested.”  
“I was ALWAYS interested!”  
“You seemed like you only wanted to be my friend.”  
“Because I did, and I do. I was afraid to push for more so early on. Then you dated Steve and that sucked. I was so happy when you broke up with him. I’d hoped to kind of broach the subject, you know, drop hints and stuff, when you came over for lunch that day. But Steve got to you. If I’d been less of a coward, I could have said something before that, or maybe had you come over for dinner that night or something.”  
“This isn’t on you, Balty. It’s just not. This is on him, period. It’s not my fault or your fault, it’s all him. And quite frankly, I’m sick of thinking of him and hearing his name.”  
“Me too!” he agreed.  
They both stood there looking at each other. Finally Balthazar said, “Now what do we do?”  
Kai smiled. “Usually in a new relationship like this, once we knew we liked each other, we’d start dating and get to know each other better. But we did all that as friends.”  
“This is true,” Balty said. “So where do we go from here?”  
“To bed,” Kai said with finality. “We go to bed.”  
Balty looked at his watch, confused. “But it’s only 8 o’clock, and…” he trailed off. One look at her and he felt like an idiot. “Oh. Oh,” he responded to her, looking at him like he was a dumbass. “You sure about this?” he asked as she led him by his hand out of the kitchen and up the stairs.  
“If there is one thing this whole thing has taught me,” she said to him over her shoulder, “it’s that life is too short. And we don’t always get a second chance. If you don’t want this, that’s ok, but if you do….why wait?”  
They were standing in front of his open bedroom door. “Believe me, Kai. I WANT this!”  
She led him into the room.

She giggled as they kissed and stumbled over to his bed. Balty was 6 feet tall, and Kai was barely 5’4”. He was bending down to kiss her and she was on her tiptoes as they tried to make it to the bed without breaking the kiss. He started laughing too, saying, “We’ll figure this out sooner or later, don’t worry.”  
Kai just pulled her shirt off over her head and said, “I’m not worried about it.”  
Leaning down to kiss her again, Balty simply hoisted her up to his height and then fell back on the bed with her on top of him. Kai started to pull at his shirt, and he sat up with her straddling him to pull it off. Sitting back on his lap, Kai said, “Oh!”  
He was already hard, he couldn’t help it.  
He smiled at her and told her, “How many times do I have to say it? Prettiest woman in prime time.”  
Kai climbed off of his lap to shimmy out of the little cutoff shorts she was wearing as he leaned back on his elbows smiling. “What are you smiling at?’ she said, hands on her hips.  
“I’m admiring and appreciating the view. Cute undies.”  
She was wearing a matching camouflage and panty set. Looking down at herself, she suddenly felt ridiculous. Cotton underwear in front of him? He was probably used to babes in lace panties that cost 100 times more than this lame shit she’d bought at Target. “Um, I can put on something sexier,” she mumbled.   
“What? Oh no you don’t!” he exclaimed. “I said it’s cute, and I mean it. I like it. A lot. And I like the girl in it even more.” He meant it, too. He didn’t need girls in $400 lace panties. He needed THIS girl.  
She got a smile. “Really?”   
“Mmhmm,” he said, pulling her back down on top of him and kissing her. He rolled over on top of her and stood to shuck his pants, telling her, “See? Yours are so much cuter than mine.” He was wearing a simple pair of black boxer briefs, but damn did he look good in them. He did a little twirl. “Look, so boring.”  
“Damn, Balty got back!” Kai said.  
He raised an eyebrow at her, “Very funny.”  
They lay side by side on his bed in their underwear looking at each other. Balty softly said, “You can still back out. You don’t have to do anything, you don’t owe me anything.”  
“I was gonna say the same thing to you,” Kai replied.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes some smut!

There was no way Balthazar was backing out of this. He couldn’t remember ever having wanted something more. He pulled Kai on top of him and started kissing her. Reaching his hands up on her shoulders, he slowly started to slide the straps of her bra down, then reached around her back to expertly unhook it. He then rolled her over on her back and slid the bra off. Breaking the kiss, he looked her dead in the eye. Her breasts were pressed against his chest, and he could feel her nipples hardening. Balthazar almost didn’t want to look, the anticipation was almost the best thing. He knew she had a nice figure after seeing her in her bathing suit and just now in her underwear. He looked down, and was glad he did.  
At first, Kai reached her hands up to cover herself, but he wasn’t about to let her cover that up. “Nope,” he said simply, moving her hands away.  
Her breasts were perfect. Smooth skin with pink nipples. He couldn’t help himself, dipping his head and taking one hard nipple in his mouth.  
Kai let out a happy, excited noise, and Balty looked up at her. Her eyes were closed and she looked damn happy, running her fingers through his hair. She said, “Oh god, please don’t stop, that feels so good!”   
He switched out one nipple for the other, using his fingers expertly to keep the first one hard as Kai squirmed beneath him.  
He went back and forth a few times, then started to kiss his way down her chest, making his way down her flat belly heading south when Kai stopped him.  
“Wait, what are you doing?” she said, startled.  
Looking up at her, he said, “I thought it was fairly obvious.”  
“Um…”  
“What’s the problem? Do you not like guys going down on you?” He knew some girls just weren’t into it.  
“No, I do….if memory serves…”  
“Memory?”  
“Steve just didn’t do it that often. Like I could count on one hand and still have fingers left. He said it kind of grossed him out.”  
Balty was floored. What the fuck was wrong with that guy? He had a sneaking suspicion about something so simply asked, “Did he ever let you finish?”  
“No.”  
Balty groaned and rested his forehead on her tummy, then looked up at her again.  
“Okay, here’s the deal, Kai. I want to do it. I like to do it, hell, I love it. I don’t think it’s gross at all. But if you don’t want me to, I won’t. I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want.”  
Kai definitely wanted it. It had been too long. “Yeah, I do. I’m just nervous I guess.”  
Without another word, Balty slid her little panties off. She had just a little strip of hair, and he said, “Cute landing strip,” as he gently opened her legs.  
“I call it my welcome mat.”  
He had to laugh at that, saying, “Well I feel very welcome here!”

Without any further warning, he dipped his head down and gave a long, wet lick right up the center of her pussy. He heard her breath hitch and she gasped out, “Oh my god!” So he knew he was on the right track. “By the way,” he said softly, “there is nothing gross about this. You taste excellent. And I’m not stopping until you finish.”  
He got back to work.  
Kai was in another world. She hadn’t been lying, Steve wasn’t much for going down on her, he said he didn’t see the point. If she wasn’t wet, that’s what lube was for. He didn’t see it as fun foreplay, he saw it as a chore.  
Meanwhile, Balthazar was eating her like a condemned man having his last meal.

He loved the taste, he loved the smell, most of all he loved the view of Kai writhing around and the sounds she was making: groans, giggles, sighs. He wrapped an arm around her thigh, and pushed his tongue in her as deeply as he could while gently rubbing his thumb across her clit. Kai’s back arched and she let out a loud moan. He had the feeling that since it had been so long since she’d had it done, and done properly, it probably wouldn’t take much.

He was right.

Balthazar kept his tongue sliding in and out of her while moving his thumb faster. Kai was pushing herself against him, mumbling over and over, “Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop…”  
He felt her body give off a little twitch, heard her take a deep breath, and made sure he got a good grip on her thighs. Kai’s legs started to shake and suddenly her back arched and she was screaming, “Oh fuck, OH FUCK, YES!”   
Balthazar held on for the ride, tongue planted firmly inside her delicious wetness, and thumb flicking rapid fire across her hot little button. She kept arching, bucking, and screaming for a good 15 seconds, then she collapsed. Balthazar slowed his thumb down, and slowly slid his tongue out of her.  
Kai struggled to catch her breath as Balty sweetly kissed a path back up her body. Her hands were covering her face, and he gently pulled them away.. Her eyes were closed and he said, “Open your eyes, Kai. Look at me.”  
She slowly opened her eyes, and saw him smiling at her. She smiled back, then started to giggle. “That was nice. Really nice!” she giggled.  
Balty chuckled back, “Well I’m glad! How do you feel?”  
“Good,” she said, wrapping her arms around him. Then she wrapped her legs around him, and felt how hard he was in his boxer briefs. Suddenly her face fell. “Uh oh.”  
“What’s wrong?” Balty asked.  
“I really want to fuck you, but I don’t have any protection. I mean, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but-”  
“No explanation necessary,” he told her. He rolled over and rummaged in his bedside table and pulled out an unopened box of condoms. “I bought these when I was dating after my wife and I broke up. I never brought those girls here, but I thought if it worked out with any of them, I’d be prepared. Didn’t happen, but I just kept them.”  
Kai’s face brightened immediately and she let out the cutest little, “Yay!” making Balty chuckle. 

He put a condom on and knelt between her legs. She took one look at his dick ponting at the ceiling and started laughing. “Hey,” Balty said with mock offense, “that’s my manhood you’re laughing at!”  
“If it was sundial it would be high noon!” Kai said laughing and Balty couldn’t help but laugh at that as well.  
“Hard not to be at high noon around you!”

He positioned his hard cock at her entrance and paused. “You’re still good with this?” he asked. She gave him a smile and a nod. Holding himself off of her on his elbows, he slowly slid his length into her, watching her face as her eyes slid shut. She pulled him down against her and whispered in his ear, “You feel so good, Balthazar.” He shivered at that. She rarely called him by his full name, always just Balty, which he would never let anyone else call him. To him, that would have been like someone calling him “sweetheart”: it was Kai’s nickname for him, for use by her only, and one he considered a term of endearment. But hearing her utter his name like that was like a sacred prayer to his ears.  
“Fuck Kai, you feel so damn good.”  
“I like the way you feel inside me.”  
He liked it, too, there was no denying it.

This was so different than sex with Steve. Steve was always hard and fast and rough. And while Kai wouldn’t deny that all of that could be fun and was, sometimes she wanted something different. Something softer and slower and more gentle. And Steve would always promise her “next time”, but the next time never came for her. It was all about him and the best way for him to get off, whether or not Kai did. And most times, she didn’t.

But here was Balty, sliding into her, slow, deep, and gentle. Watching her face for any indication that she wasn’t enjoying it. But she was smiling up at him. He dropped his head down to kiss her, would he ever get tired of that? Every time her hot little tongue slid into his mouth, it tasted like dessert.

He was pumping into her at a good steady pace, when she tightened her legs around him saying, “Faster.” He sped up and Kai gave off a guttural groan that seemed to make his dick get even harder inside of her. How was she so damn tight?

Both of them started to sweat. Kai slid one of her legs up along his back and said, “I need….could you...oh FUCK that feels good…”  
Balty pulled her leg up gently and placed it on his shoulder. “Like that?”  
“YES! Faster!”  
Balthazar was ramming into her at high speed, and wasn’t sure how much longer he would last. Kai’s nails were digging into his back and he was looking at that beautiful face of hers. Suddenly her eyes opened wide, slammed shut, and he felt her tighten up on him as she screamed out, “Oh god, oh fuck, OH YES!”  
That tightening up pushed him over the edge as well. “Fuck..oh FUCK...oh Kai!”

Before collapsing on top of her, he lowered her leg from his shoulder. He looked down at her, sweaty, panting, and gorgeous. “You ok, Kai?”  
“Yeah, that was...wow. Are you ok?”  
He rolled off of her. “That was a workout, not gonna lie. I’m feeling my age, that’s for sure.” As Balty got up to walk to the bathroom, Kai gave him a wolf whistle, “Nice ass, Balty!” Looking over his shoulder at her, he gave it a little wiggle, making her laugh.

He cleaned himself off and flushed the condom, then leaned on the bathroom counter, looking at himself in the mirror. He looked freshly fucked, that was for sure. His hair was a mess, which was pretty much his default. But he was also sweaty, and had that fucked look to him, complete with the little “I just got laid” smile. But he hadn’t been lying, he was exhausted. It had been WAY too long for him, but he had a feeling that was going to change.

Walking back out to the bedroom, it was nearly dark out, and Kai was asleep. She must have been exhausted too. He looked at her for a minute, then realized what was different.  
For the first time since she’d started bunking with him, she wasn’t curled up in that tight, tiny ball. Her doing that every single night made his heart just break for her. Curling up into a little ball to protect herself. Not from him, but from her own memories of the worst night of her life, which she would never be able to lose.   
Yet here she was, laying on her side, one hand stretched over to Balty’s side of the bed.  
He climbed in, gently lifting her hand out of the way, and placing it on his chest.  
In her sleep, Kai scooted over and curled up against him.


	19. Chapter 19

“Now don’t go falling in love with any of those pretty young things,” Amy Xavier told her husband before he left for work. Always honest, he let his wife know that he would have to go to The Pink Pussycat and why.  
“Why would I want any of those women when I got the prettiest woman in the whole damn world at home?” he’d asked, making her blush. He meant it. They would be 90 with no teeth and he’d still think she was gorgeous. He’d fallen in love with her when she was doing fundraising for a new wing of a children’s hospital. Harold was a young lawyer, and she’d come to him for a donation. He would have donated for that regardless, but he also asked her to dinner. They were married a little over a year later.

Unsure of what time the club opened, he stopped by in the afternoon at about 3:00. They were open, but there weren’t too many cars in the parking lot yet. He walked in and was immediately accosted by a pretty girl in a lacy nightie that left little to the imagination, “Hi, I’m Crystal,” she said sweetly. “Would you like a private dance?”  
These girls didn’t waste any time, that was for sure.  
“No thank you dear, I’d like to speak to the manager, if that’s possible. My name is Harold Xavier, I’m a lawyer.”  
“Oh, um...ok,” she said nervously.  
“Now don’t you worry, Miss Crystal, nobody is in trouble. I just have some questions about an employee from about 10 years ago.”  
Crystal smiled with relief. “I’ll get him for you.”  
It wasn’t lost on Harold that this Crystal girl was probably in grade school playing with Barbies when Star worked there.

Ten minutes later, he was seated in the manager's office. Never having been to strip clubs, Harold was surprised. He thought they were all seedy, slimy places, with depressed girls skulking about the stage.  
This place had a bright stage with colored lights, the girls all looked happy and healthy, the patrons were having a great time, the sound quality was excellent, and the manager, Jack, was a friendly, amiable young guy.  
“Well, my dad retired a few years back so I took over,” he was telling Harold. “Strip clubs can have a high turnover. If a girl is making good money, she’ll stay until she isn't. A lot of girls will just go to another club with a different stage name. We’ve had some girls stick around for years. But 10 years is a long time. What was the name of the girl you’re looking for?”  
“Star.”  
Jack looked at him. “I meant her real name.”  
Harold realized that he may have hit a dead end. “Damn, I don’t know.”  
“I’m not sure I can help you. We have lots of girls come through that use the name ‘Star’. I mean yeah, we have files in every single girl who has ever worked here, but all under their real names.”  
“Aw dammit,” Harold said. He had printed the picture of her and Steve out and took it out of his pocket. He unfolded it and put it on the desk. “The article didn’t give her name...”  
Jack looked at the picture and suddenly said, “Wait. Wait just a minute. I remember her. Hold on just one second.”  
Jack picked up the phone and made a call. “Hey dad, it’s me...no...everything is fine...the girls are fine….what? Of course I didn’t burn the place down!”  
Harold laughed at that.  
“Dad, I need to know if you remember the real name of a dancer from a long time ago...about 10 years….yeah, I know it’s a long time….remember how we saw that actor guy’s news conference who got stabbed by his girlfriend? THAT guy….yeah, his ex-girlfriend’s lawyer is here….yeah, Star...do you remember her real name…”  
Several minutes of silence on Harold’s side, and he thought it was a lost cause. Suddenly Jack grabbed a pad of paper and scribbled a name on it. “Thanks dad...see you Sunday...I love you too….bye.”  
Jack sat down with a smile. “I got a name. If you give me a few minutes, I can see if we still have her files, which we probably do because my dad saves everything.”  
He turned to his computer and said, “Okay, Nicole Henderson, let’s see where your information is.” Clicking a few keys, he said, “Her file is in the attic. We can get it and then you’ll at least have the last address that we had for her. She probably doesn’t live there anymore, but it’s a start. We saw both of the press conferences. That Steve guy is a sack of shit. Follow me,” he said as he led Harold out of the office and through the club.  
He approached a door with a bodyguard standing in front of it who stepped aside without question for them. Jack opened the door, calling out, “Incoming plus one! All clear?” Harold could hear female voices and a flurry of activity, then a female voice calling out, “Yeah, we’re good!” Turning to Harold, Jack said, “They may get topless on the stage, but I never come in here unannounced. My dad taught me that. It lets them have dignity and privacy, and that makes them happy. Happy employees make a happy workplace,” he said as he walked down a short hallway with Harold following.  
They turned a corner. That’s when Harold realized that they were in the dancers dressing room. A few girls called out, “Hi Jackie!” He replied cheerfully, “Hi girls! Sorry about the intrusion, but we need to get up into the attic.”  
Harold didn’t know where to look. Everywhere he turned there was nudity. There was something so incongruous to him about a girl nearly naked except for high heels and a g-string standing in front of a mirror fixing her hair. A few of the girls even turned to him, and gave him cheerful hellos, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. Jack pulled a ladder down from the ceiling and said, “I won’t be a minute.” Harold said, “Uh, I think I’ll go wait outside,” and hustled back out, hearing a few girls giggle at his hasty retreat.  
Walking out the door, he saw the bodyguard and said, “I thought I’d wait out here.” The guard said, “You don’t go to many strip clubs do you?”  
“Nope,” Harold admitted. “You?”  
“Nah,” the bouncer said. “People think it’s great to work here but honestly, you’ve seen one titty, you’ve seen them all.”

A few minutes later, Jack emerged with a dusty file folder, smiling triumphantly. “Found her.”

Back in Jack’s office, he opened up the folder for Nicole/Star. “Yeah, she started work here a while back. Stayed on for over a year. I was just out of high school and had to come here a few times to help my dad with stuff, that’s why I recognized her. A lot of the dancers didn’t like me. Here I was, this 18 year old kid hauling boxes of booze behind the bar for his dad, and staring at all of them. I couldn’t help it though! They were all so beautiful and so topless and I was 18 and horny,” he chuckled. “But Star was nice. Once she found out I wasn’t just some random kid, she always said hi when she saw me and asked how I was and how my mom was. My dad liked her because she was dependable when most dancers were flakes. But yeah he remembered when she dated Steve. I was already away at college. He said she was happy at first, but didn’t stay that way.” A polaroid picture was paper clipped to the inside of the folder, and he pulled it out. “We had to have pictures of all the dancers on file. That’s her alright,” he said sliding the photo across the desk to Harold, who compared it to the photo of her and Steve.  
“Sure is,” Harold said.

20 minutes later, Harold was pulling out of the parking lot of The Pink Pussycat. Jack had given him a photocopy of Star/Nicole’s basic info sheet, and a digital photo copy of her polaroid. Now back to his office to do some detective work. He needed to find her and talk to her.   
Getting back to his office he searched the residents of her last known address. None of them were named Nicole. He searched DMV records and found several women in the area with her name. He went through every single one, looking at the photo.  
Some were easy to disregard: too young, too old, wrong nationality.   
It took hours, but he had narrowed it down to three possibilities: Pasadena, Glendale, and Burbank He was going to have to go to their houses and see them. Great.

He headed out to Pasadena first. After a knock, a woman answered, “Can I help you?” Harold was polite as always. “Hello, miss. My name is Harold Xavier, I’m a lawyer. I’m looking for a woman named Nicole Henderson.”  
“That’s me.”  
The sun was setting, and he cousin’t see her well through the screen door. He said, “I hate to ask, but did you by any chance work at a nightclub in L.A. about 10 years ago?”  
The woman giggled and said, “Oh heavens no!” Opening the screen door she showed him a cross around her neck. “Ten years ago I was doing missionary work in Morocco with my husband. Nightclubs aren’t something we did. Nothing wrong with them, of course, I suppose they serve a purpose. But we’re church going folk.”  
Once she opened the screen door and he was able to see her, he could tell it wasn’t her. “Well I thank you for your time, miss. Sorry to have bothered you.”  
“Oh no bother at all. I hope you find who you’re looking for, God bless!” she called out to him.

Getting in his car he crossed the Pasadena address off his yellow legal pad. He headed for Glendale next. If this one didn’t pan out, he would have to wait until tomorrow to go to Burbank. It was already getting near dinnertime, and he didn’t want to be barging in on folks trying to eat. He also knew that there was a possibility that Nicole Henderson had moved. She could be living anywhere in the world. Just because her driver’s license hadn’t expired, it didn’t mean she hadn’t gotten a new one in another state.

He drove down the streets of Glendale turning onto Carlton Dr. The house he wanted was one side of a duplex. There was a woman playing in the front yard with a little girl who looked to be about 3, and a man who was probably fixing the car at one point, but was now leaning against the open hood, stood watching the little girl with a smile on his face.  
As Harold pulled up to park in front of the house, he got a look at the woman’s face.  
Nicole Henderson.  
It was her.  
She was a little older, naturally, but it was obvious.

As he got out of the car, the man stopped smiling and asked, “Can I help you, buddy?” He was a big guy, and obviously protective of the woman and child. Harold would have to go through him to talk to her.  
He smiled and walked up saying, “I hope so, sir. My name is Harold Xavier, I’m a lawyer. I’m looking for Miss Nicole Henderson, and I believe that’s her.”  
“Her name is Nicole Tyler now. What do you want with my wife?”  
“She’s not in any kind of trouble, I assure you. We would like to question her about someone she knew long ago.” He turned to look at Nicole as he continued, “About 10 years ago in Los Angeles.”

The woman was quiet, but she and her husband exchanged a knowing look as she picked up her daughter. She then asked softly, “Is this by any chance about….Steve?”  
Harold noticed that her husband bristled when she said that. “Yes, miss, it is.”  
She looked at her husband, then asked Harold, “Could you give us a minute?”  
“Of course.”

Nicole and her husband walked to the front porch of the house and talked for a minute. Then the husband nodded, and took the girl over to the other side of the duplex. Harold heard him call as he entered, “Hey mom? Can you watch Maddy for a bit?”  
He came out, then Nicole approached Harold. “Why don’t you come inside?”

The three adults sat in Nicole’s cozy kitchen. Harold let her know why he was there, that he was Kai’s lawyer. “We saw both press conferences on TV. I’m so sorry he hurt her.”   
Her husband sat down with cups of coffee for all three. “I’m Josh, Nicole’s husband. I know all about it, she told me a long time ago.”  
“Where would you like me to start?” Nicole asked.  
“Well, how about how you met Steve?”

Nicole took a breath and straightened her ponytail. “Well, it’s no secret I was working at The Pink Pussycat as a dancer. It was just a job, y’know? I was only 20, really didn’t know what I wanted to do with myself. I’d worked crap jobs in high school and after. Let me tell you, dancing at that club paid WAY more than folding sweaters at Forever 21 or selling accessories at Claire's Boutique. I was able to get my own place, a car, take care of myself. Jack senior told me I was more responsible than most, I had a savings account and everything.”  
Her husband took her hand and gave her a gentle smile.  
“I guess I’d been there about 8 months when I first saw Steve,” she continued. “He had just been in his first big movie, and was living the Hollywood life. You know, parties, booze, girls. He kept coming to the Pussycat. I could never get very close, there was practically a stampede to get to him when he came in. He started to come in fairly regularly, like 3 nights a week. One night when I was onstage, he came up and tipped me a $50 bill. He said, ‘When you’re done up there, I’d love a private dance from you.’ Stupid me was like, ‘Hey a private dance is only $20, you gave me too much.’ He just laughed. When I went to his table after I got offstage, he told me that the $50 wasn’t my table dance payment, that was just a stage tip. I did my private dance and he gave me a $100 bill. Before I could say anything he said, ‘$20 for the dance and $80 for your tip.’ Naturally I was blown away. I mean, that was beyond generous. He kept me at his table all that night. Sent away the other girls that tried to push their way in, bought me expensive drinks, and bought several dances from me, always paying me $100 for each one. I remember I made my rent that night.”  
Harold said, “Sounds like quite the benefactor. I’d like to ask you about this picture, if you remember it.”  
He pulled out the old magazine photograph. She smiled at the memory. “That was one of our first dates. I had a night off from the club, and he asked if he could take me out. I wasn’t sure if I should, I even discussed it with Jack. He told me that as long as I didn’t leave the club with a customer, he was fine with it. If you left with a customer, some places see it as prostitution,” she explained to Harold. “But he told me what I did away from the bar was my own business. So we went out to dinner. He wined and dined me, pulled out my chair...stuff guys my age had never done. He really just…..”  
“Swept you off your feet?” Harold asked.  
“Exactly. It was great at first, I didn’t even mind the publicity. That’s why I gave my name as Star and the name of the club. It was good for business. But then, well, Steve started to get jealous. I mean, I get it, in a way. Dating anyone in the adult industry can be a challenge. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to date someone who worked in adult films. But the club had a strict ‘look but don’t touch’ policy. I was just dancing. That was all. It was my job, the job I signed on for. Steve wanted me to quit, but I refused. I enjoyed working there. To me, it was a job, and a well paying one at that. Nothing more, nothing less. I didn’t want to go back to hanging up clothes for minimum wage. So we started fighting.”  
“We’re the fights physical?”  
“Not at first.” Nicole said. “But Steve had no idea who he was fucking with.”


	20. Chapter 20

Harold looked at her when she said that. She was smiling, and so was her husband. “What do you mean?” Harold asked.  
“Mr. Xavier, I grew up the youngest of four children. The only girl. Having three older brothers meant I learned to fight. You couldn’t leave us alone in a room for five minutes without a fight breaking out. We all get along and love each other now, and we laugh about how things used to be, but back then, it was ride or die. I rode.”  
“So when he got physical….” Harold began.  
“I gave as good as I got,” Nicole finished. “The first time he got physical when we were fighting, he said ‘Don’t argue with me!’ and slapped me across the cheek. So I punched him right in the face. I think that surprised both of us, but it was my first reaction. Someone hits me, and I hit back harder.”  
“What happened after that?”  
“It definitely slammed the brakes on that fight. I didn’t do any damage to him. But we fought again a few weeks later and he backhanded me hard. I ended up with a bruise I had to cover with makeup so I could work. But I broke his nose in return. He threatened to call the cops and press assault charges on me! I told him to go right ahead, after all he’d hit me first. He knew I was right. He also realized that if he kept hitting me, I was going to hit back. I wasn’t going to just sit there and take it. Like I said, I gave as good as I got, I didn’t back down. A few days after our second fight, he called me telling me he didn’t want to see me any more. And I never saw him again after that.”  
“He never came into the club again?”  
“Nope, not the Pussycat. Maybe he went to other clubs, but not ours. I guess he thought dating a stripper would be easy, but dating anyone isn’t easy. Dating is a compromise, give and take. For him it was ‘you give and I’ll take’. It doesn’t work that way. I stayed at the Pussycat for almost 2 years, then got burned out. I moved back home for a while, and used my savings to take some classes at community college and got a job in a dentist’s office. That’s where I met Josh,” she turned to smile at him, and he was beaming her.   
“It was love at first sight,” Josh said. “When we saw those press conferences the other night…. We saw Steve sitting up there with a stab wound, and Nicole said, ‘He finally pissed off the wrong girl!’ We laughed about it until we saw Kai’s press conference. Once we saw and heard what he had done to her...it wasn’t funny anymore. Not at all.”  
Josh and Nicole both shook their heads.  
“Nicole,” Harold began, “would you be willing to tell this story in court? They might not allow you as a witness as your relationship was so long ago. But if they did, would you be willing to testify?”  
Nicole looked unsure. “Mr. Xavier, that was over 10 years ago. What good would his relationship with one stripper do?”  
“It would show that he has a pattern of violence against women. We’ve already had another ex-girlfriend of his come forward. And I’m trying to get in contact with even more.”  
“I don’t know,” she said, unsure.   
Josh turned to his wife. “Maybe you should, babe. If they need you. Remember how bad you felt when we saw her on TV? How you said that maybe if you’d spoken up all those years ago, it would have never happened? This is your chance to speak up now, for any girls in the future. Make them think twice before they date him, and make him think twice before he hits a woman again.”  
Nicole looked at her husband and at Harold. She thought about her daughter.  
“I’ll do it. If it’s allowed and you need me, I’ll do it.”


	21. Chapter 21

Balty woke up a few hours later and reached over to Kai’s side of the bed but it was empty. Turning his head, he saw her standing at the sliding glass doors leading out to the balcony. Even in the darkness, he could see that she was wearing his shirt with her little camo panties peeking out from underneath.  
“Kai, you ok?” he asked softly.  
She turned and looked at him. “I’ve just been standing here thinking,” Kai said. “Steve won’t do any time. He just won’t. At worst he’ll do some community service, pay a fine, and get on with his life.”  
Kai turned back to the window again and didn’t say anything for a long time. Balthazar wasn’t sure where she was going with all this. He just said, “Okay, so…?”  
“So nothing. I’m still going to court. I’m still going to tell them what happened. I have to speak for every woman who won’t or can’t. I can’t depend on karma getting him back. People need to know what he’s capable of. He didn’t just slap me in the face or something, although that wouldn’t be ok either. He may be famous. He may be an actor. He may be handsome. But he was almost a killer. That’s not okay,” she said, turning back to Balthazar. “Not by a fucking long shot.”

Balty got a huge smile. ‘This girl is something else!’ he thought happily to himself. He simply told her, “You’re my hero, you know that?”  
“Oh shut up!”  
“No really! Think about it: you kept a cool head when the shit went down, got away, got to safety, went to the police, and got the public on your side just by telling the truth and refusing to hide it. I don’t know that I would have made it out of something like that alive, baby, and that’s the truth.”  
She smiled at him, and he said, “Come back to bed gorgeous, it’s late.”

A few days later, Harold Xavier called Kai. “We have a date for the pre-trial hearing.”   
“Do I need to be at that?”  
“I think it’s a good idea. You said you wanted it to be private, not a media circus. I can ask for you, but the judge may ask why. I think in that case, it’s best if you speak for yourself, explain why you want it that way. And Steve has been seen around town, looking all ‘sad’,” he said, and Kai could hear the sarcasm in his voice. “When anybody asks him about what happened, he just says, ‘My lawyer had advised me not to speak on the matter.’ In other words, he wants us to know that he has a lawyer and is going to fight this. His lawyer is Corey Miller. He’s an entertainment lawyer in Hollywood, one who is trying to get famous, and has been for years. He tries to get people to use him for high profile cases. If you hadn’t come to me, you would have DEFINITELY heard from him.”  
“He sounds like a scumbag.”  
“He is. If he’d been a lawyer when the Manson case happened, he would have waited at the airport for Roman Polanski to fly in after the tragedy. If Polanski hadn’t hired him he would have turned around and courted the Manson family. He wants notoriety.”  
“Sounds like a great guy, “Kai said sarcastically.  
“You got that right. And just to give you fair warning the pre-trial hearing WILL be a crazy circus. If it’s okay with Mr. Getty, I think it would be in our best interest to travel to and from the event together. I can pick you up at his home if that’s not too intrusive.”  
Kai had her phone on speaker, and Balty said, “Not a problem at all.”  
Harold let them know that he had sent registered letters to his actress ex-girlfriends, explaining the situation. “I can only hope they will just talk to me.”  
He let her know he’d found and talked to the former front desk girl at Hotel Sunset Boulevard. “That poor girl is terrified. She thinks she’s gonna go to jail. She’s 19, this is her first job. She’s chubby, has an unfortunate case of acne...and Steve charmed the crap out of her.” Harold went on to explain that he told the girl she wasn’t going to go to jail….but that if she didn’t show up to court when he subpoenaed her, that she might. “I didn’t want her to get any ideas of sneaking out. We need her testimony. For the record, she said she DID smell booze on his breath, and that he was acting ‘funny’, as she put it.”  
“Funny?” Kai asked.  
“Yeah,” Harold told her. “She said he seemed kind of angry beneath the surface. She actually told him at first that she couldn’t give him any info. When she did that, she said his face got really angry, and she thought for a minute that he was going to explode on her. She got scared when that happened. But then he took a breath, calmed down, and took her hand, telling her what a sweet, pretty thing she was. He said he just had something of yours to return, made a point to tell her that you two had broken up, and said that if she helped him out, he’d make it worth her while.”  
“Fucking asshole,” Kai muttered.  
Harold told them what time he’d come get them, and on the way into the courtroom not to say a word, not even “no comment”. There would definitely be cops to get them inside, but Kai had already seen how damn intrusive news stations could be sticking their microphones into your face as you walked by.

Kai stood up and started to pace. Balty watched her and said gently, “Kai? You okay?” She just glanced at him, but kept pacing. He could tell she was seriously agitated. “Now that it’s starting, I don’t want it to happen,” she told him. “I’m gonna get thrown up on that stand, and it will be like getting attacked all over again!”  
“Kai, clam down. This is just the pre-trial hearing. This isn’t the actual trial.”  
“You know he’ll be there, right? Sitting just a few feet away! I haven't seen his face since I saw his press conference, but that was just TV! He’s going to be sitting right there, live and in person, where he can finish the fucking job, just like he wanted!”  
Kai was freaking out, and Balty needed to help her.  
“He won’t be able to get to you, babe! We will be in a courtroom full of witnesses, plus there will be bailiffs. Those are cops, Kai. With guns. Whose sole job is to protect everyone there, especially you, from him.”  
Kai was quiet, then said very softly, “Excuse me for just a minute, please.’  
He watched her as she stepped out of the sliding glass doors onto the back deck, closing them gently behind her. He saw her take a deep breath, and then let loose with a yell so primal, loud, and long, that all the birds in the neighborhood took off. He said softly to himself, “Shit. She’s got some lungs on her.”  
Very calmly, Kai walked back in, shut the doors, got a glass of water, and sat down, as if nothing happened.  
“Better?” Balty asked.  
“Surprisingly, yes. Sorry for my outburst.”  
“No apology necessary.”

The day for the pre-trial hearing came much too soon. Kai wore an outfit that she hated: a gray skirt just below the knee, white button front shirt, and matching gray blazer, with sensible black shoes and her hair pulled back into a french braid.. She felt like a schoolmarm, but Balty told her she looked very nice. “You look 100% appropriate for court,” he told her. “It shows respect for the process.” Harold picked them up as promised, in a town car with a driver, so he wouldn’t have to troll around and find parking while they were chased by reporters.  
The closer they got to the courthouse, the crazier it got. Kai was glad the car had tinted windows. Tons of cars, and news media everywhere, not to mention fans. She could see people holding up signs saying, “#istandwithkai” , “#justiceforkai”, and a big one that said plainly, “Fuck you, Steve Murphy”.   
“Now remember, straight into the building. No autographs, no selfies, and no comment.”  
“Believe me, I’m really not in the mood for any of those things. I love my fans, but this isn't a convention. This isn’t fun.”  
“Mr. Getty, you and I should get out first. When the police come and make an opening, then we can get Kai.”  
The car stopped and the men got out, closing Kai inside. She sat fidgeting, while the police made their way over to the car and the people tried to press closer. Just before the door opened, the driver turned and said, “Miss Porter?”  
“Yes?”  
“I stand with you. Justice for Kai,” he said, giving her a thumbs up.  
Kai wanted to cry, it was so nice. She managed to whisper back, “Thank you,” and put on her sunglasses before they opened the door and helped her out.   
It was insane. Even with the two men and the police flanking her, reporters were sticking microphones in her face, flashbulbs were going off on cameras from the paparazzi, and some fans were sticking iPhone cameras in her face as well as shoving photos at her for autographs. There were shouting, “We believe you!” and “We stand by you, Kai!” But it was still overwhelming and terrifying.   
Once they got inside, it was just more of the same. It was truly a nightmare. They finally got into a private waiting room. Kai took off her sunglasses, but she was pale and shaking. Harold pulled out a chair for her and then pulled another one in front of her, so they were almost knee to knee. “You’re doing really well, Kai.”  
“I don’t feel like I am.”  
“Well you are. You were very calm walking through that. You walked steady and straight through, just like I told you.”  
“Do I have to walk through all that crazy to get into the courtroom?”  
“No. See that door?” Harold said, pointing to the opposite of where they had entered. Kai nodded and he continued, “That goes directly into the courtroom. Unfortunately, there will be reporters and photographers in there, but they cannot ask you anything or say anything, or they will be thrown out and held in contempt.”

Steve showed up after Kai was already in the private waiting room. It was a hot mess. He thought for sure he’d have at least some fans there. There were a few on Twitter that he’d seen, although they were embarrassing as hell. Trying to get the hashtags #shedeservedit and#kaislies trending, thankfully they didn’t work. As he got out of his car with his lawyer, the police came to walk him in. The crowd pressed forward as they had with Kai, but not because they loved him. He heard people calling him a rapist and a psycho and a bastard. Then someone started a chant of, “Cancel Steve Murphy.” He saw a girl recording with her iPhone, and he said, “Hey there, would you like a selfie?” And she said, “Fuck no, you scumbag! You’re nothing but a guilty son of a bitch!” His lawyer said, “Young lady, he is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, not the court of public opinion.” Finally they got inside and were ushered to their own waiting room.

There was a knock on the waiting room of Kai’s door, and a bailiff poked his head in, saying, “We’re about to start.” As they got up, Harold told her, “You don’t even have to look at him, and I suggest you don’t.”

They walked in, and luckily Steve hadn’t been escorted in yet. They sat at the table as news cameras were pointed at them and cameras shutters clicked incessantly. Balty sat in the first row behind them. She heard the other door open, and Balty saw her stiffen, but she didn’t turn her head. Steve sat down next to his lawyer and leaned forward to look at Kai. She could feel his eyes on her. Harold shifted his weight forward ever so slightly to block his view of her. In her peripheral vision, she could see Steve lean back. Harold shifted his weight again, completely nonchalant, looking over his legal paperwork. Nobody seemed to notice. But Kai leaned over, still looking straight ahead and whispered, “Thanks.” Harold just gave a small smile and nodded.  
The judge entered, and the bailiff announced, “All rise. Los Angeles County Superior Court is now in session, the Honorable Cameron H. Bruce, presiding.”


	22. Chapter 22

They went through all of the preliminaries. Steve’s lawyer tried to contest every piece of evidence that Harold wanted to have at the actual trial, stating he hadn’t seen any of it. The judge let him know that all the evidence would be open for him to examine as well, and that if he had a problem, he could file an objection before the hearing and the judge would preside over it. Until that happened, it was all allowed to be admitted: the hospital photos, Kai’s torn and bloodstained clothes, the broken phone, everything.  
Harold then said, “My client would like the hearing to be as private as possible.” The judge looked at Kai, and said, “Miss Porter, although I can guess why you feel that way, I’d like it to go on the record in your own words why you would like it private.”  
Kai stood, smoothing her skirt, and Harold continued to stand right next to her. “Um, yes ma’am. This whole incident has been a media circus practically since day one, as I’m sure you can see right now.” The judge looked out at the gallery full of reporters and photographers, then nodded at Kai for her to continue. “Although I understand that Mr. Murphy and I are both public figures, this is going to be very upsetting and emotional for me. I understand that it will eventually get out, and people will form their own opinions anyway. But I’d just rather not deal with seeing it over and over on television, ad nauseum. I would definitely like to get this over with as soon as possible, but I’d like it to be done as privately as possible.”  
Corey Miller said, “Your honor, I object. She said herself they are both public figures. The public has a right to know what happened. There is no reason that any news person who can get in here, from 20/20 to TMZ, shouldn’t be allowed.”  
The judge weighed her options. “I will allow ONE news reporter from each of the networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC to be here. The stations can work out who it is. Each network may also bring a court artist if they wish. There will be no recording devices of any kind allowed in the courtroom.”  
Corey tried to object again, and the judge told him, “Mr. Miller, I have made my decision! I suggest you and your client learn to live with it before I find you in contempt!” With that she banged her gavel, saying, “Court is adjourned.”  
They all stood as the judge exited, then Harold and Balty hustled Kai into the private room, and she slumped into a chair. “I am so relieved! I can handle some people there taking notes. I just didn’t want cameras pointed at me the whole time. Now what happens?”  
“Probably within a week, if not sooner, we will get documentation from the court telling us our actual court date.”  
“That judge was awesome.”  
Harold chuckled at that. “Yep, Cami Bruce is definitely a champion of the victimized. That lady doesn’t suffer any fools.”

In the other waiting room, Steve was angrily discussing what had happened. “Everyone still hates me! Did you hear them chanting ‘Cancel Steve Murphy’? No one cares how goddamn ‘sad’ I’ve looked all over town! Her bastard lawyer kept leaning back and forth so I couldn’t even get a look at Kai. Why the hell did I have to come anyway if I wasn’t going to speak?”  
“Jesus, Steve. Calm down. This whole trial is going to be bullshit. I plan to nail Kai’s ass to the wall. No matter what the verdict is, you won’t do any time anyway.”  
Back at the house, Balty and Kai went upstairs to change. Even though he was just there as moral support, Balty had still worn a suit and tie. “You look hot in your suit, you know that?” Kai said to him.  
“Oh really?” he said, pausing as he took off his suit jacket.  
“Definitely.”  
Balty put his suit jacket back on, and she laughed. “I had to dress up for ‘Mastermind’, too,” he reminded her.  
“Yeah, but you were a college professor, you weren’t always in a suit. Sometimes they put you in a sweater vest, nice and geeky. But I always thought you looked good.”  
He took off his suit jacket and loosened his tie, walking over to her. “Yeah but my character wasn’t always nice to you. I hated having to sometimes be a dick.”  
It was true. His Professor Richard “Ricky” Anderson pushed her buttons at every turn. “I don’t think Ricky dislikes me. I think he wants me to work and fight. I’m in that school competing with kids half my age. It would only be harder once I graduate and get out in the job market. He wants to challenge me. But I think he kind of likes Annie.”  
“Well,” Balty said putting his arms around her, “I hope Ricky likes Annie, because Balthazar sure likes Kai.” He looked at her and said, “But you look positively pooped, baby.”  
“I am,” she said, kicking off her shoes and flopping back on the bed. “That took a lot out of me. I can’t even imagine how the trial is going to be.”  
“Get up and get naked, missy,” he told her.  
“I’m not in the mood for sex, Balty.”  
“Neither am I,” he told her as he went into the bathroom, rolling up his sleeves. She could hear him starting the water in the huge jetted jacuzzi tub. “You’re going to soak in a hot bath,” he said, pulling her up off the bed. Kai had to admit that sounded good. She got undressed and pinned up her hair, climbing into the deep tub and sinking down up to her neck, turning on the jets. There was a knock, and Balty came in with a glass of wine for Kai. “Oh my god, you are a fantastic man, you know that?” she said, taking a sip. “You should get in here with me.”  
“I’m considering it,” he admitted. He looked so sexy standing there: top button of his shirt unbuttoned, tie loosened, sleeves rolled up.   
“Stop considering it and just do it,” Kai said.

He stripped down and got in the opposite end, facing her, then took one of her feet in his hands and started to rub it. She sighed and closed her eyes.  
“Kai,” he said softly, “how are you doing? I mean how are you really doing?”  
She opened her eyes, and his sweet face was so full of concern, it nearly broke her heart. Taking another sip of her wine, she said, “I’m not okay. I’m not doing well. I mean, I’m trying, and I think I’m putting up a good front. But inside I feel like a puzzle that’s been thrown on the floor: pieces are everywhere, all mixed up, and maybe some missing, and I don’t even know where to start.  
I’m not having nightmares anymore and I’m not afraid of him coming for me, either. Seeing him today, even though it was only in my peripheral vision, took more out of me than I thought it would. But Harold did his best to block Steve’s view.”  
“Wait, is that why he kept leaning backward and forward?” Balty said with a smile.  
“Yep. Steve couldn’t get a good look at me, and that helped immensely.”  
Balty had to laugh. Harold was a stand up guy, it’s why he’d been the family lawyer for so long.  
“But that’s just the thing,” Kai continued. “He won’t be able to do that during the trial. Even if he stood in front of me while I testified, he’d have to sit down when Steve’s lawyer questions me. He’s going to try to dig up dirt on me. I’ve never been so happy that I led a boring life.”

Kai wasn’t kidding about leading a “boring life”. Corey was trying to find dirt on her, and there wasn’t any. She’d never been fired from a job, only leaving for better opportunities and giving a proper two weeks notice. Her taxes were impeccable, and when she did owe, she paid in full and in plenty of time to meet the deadline. Corey noticed she got her taxes done in February, probably as soon as she got her w-2, she didn’t procrastinate. The girl didn’t even have a parking ticket. He dug through her social media accounts, even though he knew she didn’t run them. What the hell was up with this girl? Was she really this dull? Corey had even found some ex-boyfriends of hers, and contacted a few, but none of them had anything bad to say. Some of them were bitter, likely because she was now famous, but admitted she had been a decent person.  
He saw one picture and thought he’d hit pay dirt as it looked like a mug shot, but it was for a fundraiser the bookstore had done. They made a fake jail, jailed workers, and customers could donate to “bail” them out, and all the money went to a children’s cancer charity. God dammit. 

The jets in the tub shut off, as they always did automatically after 20 minutes. Balty got out first, drying himself off, then helped Kai out and pulled the plug. As she dried herself off, he got her one of his t-shirts, as she had started wearing them to bed, and a pair of panties. “Am I going to sleep?” she asked.   
“I think you definitely need a nap,” he told her.  
She finished off the last of her wine and climbed into bed.   
“How about if I order out for us for dinner? Chinese? About 90 minutes?”  
“Okay,” she said, her eyes already starting to close.  
“Fried wontons, and egg rolls?” he asked.  
“And vegetable chow mein,” she murmured and was out like a light. He smiled down at her, so cute and sleepy, and tucked her in, kissing her forehead, and headed downstairs.

90 minutes later almost to the minute, he went to wake her up. She had kicked off the blankets, and he admired her for just a few minutes. The shirt of his she was wearing was pushed up on her tummy, and she had one arm flung above her head. Balty hated to wake her, but she needed to get some food into her, and if he didn’t wake her, she’d wake up at 2 a.m. and not get back to sleep.  
He sat next to her on the bed and gently shook her shoulder, “Hey Sleeping Beauty. Want some chow mein?”  
Her eyes slowly opened and she smiled.

They went downstairs and ate. Although she looked happy, she also looked worried.  
“Kai, everything is going to be just fine. When the time comes, just go up there and tell the truth. Tell them everything. Don’t be afraid. You did nothing wrong.”

Suddenly the buzzer for his front gate rang. Balthazar said, “Can I help you?” A voice at the other end said, “I’m from the Los Angeles County Courthouse. I have registered letters for this address for Kai Porter and Balthazar Getty. They need to be signed for.”   
Kai had thrown on some lounge pants, so they went out and signed for them.   
They got back in the house and opened up identical pieces of paper, read them and looked at each other silently. Her phone rang and she answered it. Harold said, “Kai?” And she just said, “Three weeks?”


	23. Chapter 23

“Now Kai, don’t panic,” Harold told her.  
“Too late,” she said, flatly.  
“It’s going to be fine. You told her yourself that you wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.”  
“Is this enough time?”  
“Yes. I got call backs from two ex-girlfriends. They’ll testify.”  
“Hold on, let me put this on speaker for Balty and say that again.”  
She put on speaker, Harold repeated his words, and Balty let out a whoop while Kai did a happy dance.   
“We’ve got two other girls who were aspiring actresses. And both allege he blacklisted them so their careers never took off.”  
Holy shit. “It’s really stacking up against him, isn’t it?” Balty asked.  
“Damn right,” Harold said. “And I’m pretty sure that Corey Miller is pulling his hair out trying to find dirt on Kai. But Kai, please don't be mad about this, I had you checked out myself. Not so much as a warning from the cops.”  
“I’m not mad,” said Kai. “I told Balty earlier, I was never so happy I led a boring life.”

Steve was on the phone screaming at Corey. “Three goddamned weeks! How are we supposed to be ready? Have you found any dirt on her at all?”  
Corey was indeed pulling out his hair. “No, I haven’t! Why couldn’t you have dated another slutty stripper or even better, a porn star! Then we could call their entire character into question! You had to go date a fucking clean cut loser!”  
They both knew this trial would not go well for them.

Kai spent almost every day for the next three weeks in Harold Xavier’s office. They went over every possible question that they could think of. Both questions Harold would ask, and ones Corey Miller would ask as well. Harold outlined ones that he could object to, as well as whether or not the judge would still want Kai to answer the questions or not. He told her, “Only answer exactly what he asks. Do not offer anything else.” They went over the dates of everything: when she and Steve met, when they had the fight that Balthazar had witnessed on set, when she broke up with him, and when he attacked her. “You will have to tell the whole story Kai. Possibly several times. Corey Miller will try to trip you up, try to confuse you or upset you. Don’t let him.”  
“But I don’t know if I can even talk about what happened without crying,” Kai admitted.  
“Kai, if you cannot keep from crying, then cry. But keep telling your story. The judge may offer a recess. Try not to take it. It may sound cruel, but the longer you take, the harder it will be for you.”

Corey Miller found out the names of Steve’s former girlfriends that Harold was planning to call, and contacted Steve. “I wouldn’t even worry,” Steve told him. “One look from me, and they will clam right up.”  
“I’m not too worried. They’re failed actresses. I’ll say they just want money or notoriety.”

Jury selection took almost the entire three weeks. Some people were dismissed for being admitted fans of either one. Another was dismissed after getting a drunk driving arrest. It was finally selected: evenly split of 6 men and 6 women of all races and nationalities.

And then it was time.

The trip back to the courtroom was much the same. Fans, news reporters, photographers, including in the halls of the court. But once they entered the private room, it was all quiet. Kai was pale and shaking. She was wearing a grey crepe dress with a white sweater and grey shoes. Her hair had been pulled into a french twist. Soon, too soon for Kai’s liking, they let them know that it was time, and they walked into the courtroom.

Unfortunately, this time, Steve was already in there. He was waiting for her to enter, staring at the door, and she looked right at him. Freezing in her tracks, Harold saw what was happening, and stepped in front of Kai, blocking their views of each other. He turned to her and said softly, “Kai, you gotta snap out of this right now, and I mean it. He’s here and you’re here and that’s the way it’s gonna be. Do whatever you need to do to mentally deal with it, and do it now.” Kai closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said back to him, “I’m ok. I can do this.” Harold nodded. Balthazar saw the whole exchange, and saw Steve smirk and whisper to Corey, and they both giggled. He wanted to go over and punch them both. He leaned forward from his seat in the front row and told Kai, “Sweetie, he’s trying to intimidate you. Him and his two dollar lawyer are laughing.” Taking a big chance, he said, “They’re laughing at you, Kai. At how much he freaked you out by just looking at you.”  
It worked.  
He saw the anger rise up in Kai as she sat up straighter. No way was she going to let this go. She didn’t have to look at him, and she wouldn’t. But she wasn’t going to let him intimidate her another second.

They rose for judge Cameron, and the proceedings began. Harold gave an opening statement, talking about how Kai had been viciously attacked, physically assaulted and almost killed by Steve for no other reason than he was mad that they broke up. He pointed out that although Steve did indeed have cocaine in his system and that he was indeed unknowingly dosed, that one incident of cocaine doesn’t erase your memory. He talked about how he had ex-girlfriends of Steve who would testify that he had assaulted them during their relationships with him, that this was a pattern, not a one time incident, drugs or not. His opening remarks lasted just over an hour, and when he was done Kai wanted to applaud, it was so professional.   
Then Corey Miller did his opening statement. Jesus. He talked for over 2 hours, mostly about what a great guy Steve was, how he was a Hollywood treasure. How he believed that Kai only went out for Steve to get more fame (leaving out the fact that she already had plenty). How she started out as an aging actress in Hollywood, and probably wouldn’t have another job after this, because women didn’t “age well” in Hollywood, as he put it. Everyone could see the women in the jury bristling at that. He said that Kai was an actress and that she ‘acted’ like Steve hurt her. His two hours were so convoluted and scattered, it was like having a toddler tell you a two hour knock knock joke that didn’t make any sense. The jury was bored to tears as was everyone in the courtroom. Harold passed her a yellow legal pad with the question, “Still awake? Haha,” written on it. Kai wrote back, “Is it me, or are his remarks all over the place?” He didn’t really have any chronology or order to them. Harold wrote back, “It’s not just you. He’s boring the jury, the judge, even the reporters. You can hear them fidgeting.” 

After both opening remarks, the judge blessedly called lunch recess for an hour. They went into the private room, and Balty left to get some food for them from nearby. There was a knock on the door, and the bailiff popped his head in. “Mr. Xavier? I have a note here from Mr. Miller,” he said, handing him a sealed envelope. Kai looked at Harold, asking, “Is that normal?”  
“No, it isn’t. But he may have a new witness or evidence that just came in and is giving me a heads up….” he said, as he opened the envelope and read the note. Suddenly, he said, “I can’t believe that bastard! We’ll show this to the judge when we go back in,” he said, handing the note to Kai.

Harold Xavier,  
My client, Steve Murphy, has agreed to drop all counter-charges against Kai if she agrees to drop this frivolous lawsuit and stop these ridiculous proceedings. I think it would be in her best interest to accept this very generous offer.  
Sincerely,  
Corey Miller

Kai just looked at Harold after she read it and said, “You have GOT to be fucking kidding me. ‘Frivolous’ lawsuit? HE will drop charges? Did he take some of that cocaine, too?”  
“He knows his suit is flimsy. He thinks he can scare you. He thinks that if he makes it sound like you are in the wrong, you’ll drop the suit. This note isn’t illegal, but it sure as hell will be frowned on by the judge. He’s using intimidating language.”  
They told Balty what was going on and he was steamed. He wanted to go out and carve the word “ASSHOLE” onto Steve’s car... and onto Steve as well.

In Steve’s private room, he and Corey waited to hear back. They were sure she would back down. Any minute now… Steve had scared the crap out of her when she walked in. She hadn’t looked at him while Harold made his remarks, but Steve knew she felt his eyes boring into her head as she looked straight ahead with her ramrod posture. Any minute now, she’d be dropping this suit.  
That minute never came.  
As soon as they were called back into the courtroom, Harold let the judge know about the letter Corey Miller had written, in his own handwriting. The judge was not amused, and she allowed Harold to admit it as further evidence. Corey and Steve were furious.

The judge started the proceedings. “Mr. Xavier, would you call your first witness please.”  
“Thank you, your honor. I would like to call the plaintiff Kai Porter to the stand.” Kai stood on shaky legs and walked up to the box. A bailiff held out a Bible and she placed her left hand on it, raising her right. He asked, “Kai Porter, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
The judge told her to be seated. Kai noticed her hands were shaking, so she clasped them in her lap. Harold said, “Kai, could you please state your full name for the record?”  
“Kai Hartley Porter.”  
“And how old are you?”  
She hesitated, and there was a bit of a chuckle from the gallery, and a few smiles from the jury. “I’m 47.”  
Harold chuckled and said, “Sorry, I know it’s not polite to ask a lady her age. What is your current occupation?”  
“I’m an actress on television. But right now there’s a writer’s strike so I’m kind of unemployed.”  
He went through a few other mundane questions for the record. Then he asked about how she met Steve.  
“It was at one of those Hollywood red carpet parties. I was never comfortable at them, but it was good publicity for the show, so I went. I ran into Balthazar, my co-star, there. I remember I asked him how long I was supposed to stay there because I didn’t even want to be there. He said about 2 hours. Part way through the night, I ducked outside to check the time, and Steve saw me.”  
“Do you remember what he said when you met?”  
“Yes,” Kai said, smiling at the memory. “He said, ‘You hide in the dark, but your light shines and gives you away.’ He kind of swept me off my feet.”

Harold went into their dating history, and how the paparazzi followed them every step of the way. “I guess it really just goes with the territory,” Kai said. “Enquiring minds want to know and all. I was like that as a teenager. I had a huge crush on River Phoenix and tried to find out everything about him that I possibly could.” Harold chuckled at that, saying, “I’m sure everyone in this room can relate to having some kind of celebrity crush at one time or another, even as adults.”

He went on to ask about his drinking and Kai simply told the truth: she didn’t like having to deal with a drunk, mellow or not. He asked her if before the incident in question had Steve ever gotten physical with her, and she recounted the story of him grabbing her on set. Even then, she said, “I don’t think he meant to hurt me then, I really don’t. He did say he was sorry, and he sent me flowers the next day.”  
“Did it leave any kind of bruise or mark?” Harold asked.  
“Yes,” Kai admitted. “There was a hand print. They put me in a long-sleeved shirt for that week's episode.”  
Corey objected. “Your honor, she can’t even prove he did it.”  
Harold replied, “Judge, there was a witness to the exchange, who I will be calling later.”  
The judge thought it over, then said, “I’ll allow it on record.”

“Now, Kai,” Harold said, leaning on the witness box. “I need to ask you about what happened on the night in question.”


	24. Chapter 24

Kai took a shaky breath. She didn’t want to go through it again, but she knew she had to. Harold said, “The incident took place at a hotel, is that correct?”  
“Yes, sir. At Hotel Sunset Boulevard.”  
“Why were you staying at the hotel?”  
Kai recounted how her apartment was painting the hallways. “The smell of paint fumes makes me sick,” she explained as she saw some people on the jury nod in agreement. “So I figured I would go to a hotel for a few days. The Hotel Sunset is a Hollywood institution, it’s been around forever, so I thought I’d stay there since it was nice and make it a little mini-vacation.”  
She went on to recount checking in, complete with the hotel manager kissing her ass.   
“What was the room like?” Harold asked.  
“Oh it was very nice,” Kai said. “It was a big, open suite. There was a view of the hillside outside my window, and the bellhop told me that people sometimes saw rabbits and deer out there.”  
“I have heard that one of the fun little extras of the Hotel Sunset Boulevard are the phones in the rooms. They’re all retro, fun phones. Some are shaped like a shoe, or a race car, or have a rotary dial, or the like. Did your room have one of those old novelty phones?”  
“Yes it did. It had one with extra large push buttons on it. It made me laugh when I saw it because I remember my grandma had owned the same kind of phone.”  
Harold held up a photo of the exact same phone. “Was it a phone like this?”  
“Yes, exactly.”  
He showed the photo to the judge, then walked it over to Corey and Steve, then handed it to the jury, and they passed it around. “As you can see, it’s definitely an older model phone, kind of big, heavy, and clunky, not like the streamlined cell phones we have today. Did you make or receive any calls on that phone Kai?”  
“No, sir.”  
“How about your cell phone?”  
“Yes, I did.” She recounted how Balthazar had called and invited her to lunch the next day, and then Steve called.  
“Had you spoken to him since you broke up?”  
“No, I hadn’t. Neither of us had tried to contact the other.”  
“Why did he call you?”  
“Apparently when I had gathered my things from his house, I missed a few. I had left a couple of old scripts behind, and a fancy gold pen. He wanted to bring them by for me. I knew sometimes old scripts could be used at charity auctions and stuff, so I thought it would be good to get them back. The pen was a gift from my co-workers at my last job. I always wanted a fancy pen like that, and they all chipped in to get it for me as a farewell gift. So I told Steve that he could bring it by but that I wasn’t at home. I told him that I was at the hotel and why.”  
“Did you tell him your room number?”  
“Absolutely not. I told him if he wanted to come by, he could let the front desk know and they could call up to my room. That I could come to the lobby and get it from him.”  
“And what did Steve say?”  
“He asked if we could have dinner in the hotel restaurant and talk. I wasn’t sure at first, but I figured it would be ok. He said he’d come by at 6 p.m.”  
“Did he?”  
“No, he didn’t. I waited and waited, I even called him and left a message on his voicemail, but he never called back. After an hour, I decided he wasn’t coming. So I changed out of the dress I had put on and took off my makeup. I just put on some yoga pants and a sweatshirt. I started watching TV and going over the next script I had. I was using the hotel pen to mark things on it. I always did that, made little notes if I needed to question the writers or director about something.”  
“Did Steve ever show up?”  
“Yes. Yes he did.”  
“When was that?”  
“It was just after 8 p.m.”  
“So Steve Murphy, the defendant, showed up two hours late?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Did the front desk call up to your room to let you know he was there?”  
“They didn’t have to. Someone told him what room I was in and he knocked on the front door.”  
“And you answered?”  
“I did because I didn’t know it was him. When I asked who it was, he disguised his voice and said it was room service courtesy of the management. So yes, I opened the door.”  
“Were you afraid?”  
“At that moment, no. I was more annoyed than anything. He was two hours late. I asked him how he knew what room I was in, and he said he’d sweet talked the girl at the front desk.”  
“Did he have your things? Your scripts and pen?”  
“Yes he did. He gave them to me. That’s when I noticed the smell of booze on him. He was drunk again. I asked him if he’d driven himself there, and he said no, that he took an Uber, which I found out later was a lie. I told him to leave.”  
“Did he leave, Kai?”  
Kai paused, and took a breath. “No sir, he did not leave.”  
“What happened after you asked him to leave and he refused?”  
“I tried to close the door in his face, but he pushed his way inside. He closed the door and leaned back against it. I told him to get out, but he said we needed to talk. I told him that if he’d come at 6 like he was supposed to, we could have had dinner and talked. But now he was drunk and wouldn’t remember anything we said. I told him to go home, but he still refused to leave.”  
“So you had already told him, more than once, to leave, and he refused each time?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“So what did you do this time, after he refused to leave?”  
“I turned around to use the hotel phone. I was going to call security and have them escort him out. I had actually just picked up the receiver…” she trailed off and looked down at her hands in her lap.   
Harold waited a beat, then said, “Miss Porter, what happened next?”  
Kai was silent, still looking at her hands in her lap.  
“Kai,” Harold said a little louder. “I know this is difficult, but please tell us: what happened after you picked up the receiver?”  
Kai looked up, past Harold and Balthazar, at the reporters in the gallery. They had all stopped taking notes and were waiting for her to answer.   
She took another breath.  
“He...Steve, grabbed the receiver out of my hand, then picked up the whole unit and ripped the cord out of the wall. He said, ‘Who are you gonna call, Kai? Security? The police? Your manager? Your stupid boyfriend, Balthazar? WHO?’ And he threw the phone on the ground so hard, some pieces broke off. It really scared me. I told him that Balthazar was just my friend and that he was really scaring me, and I wanted him to leave. I turned around and started heading for the door. I actually intended on running out of it myself.”  
“And did you go out the door?”  
“No sir, I didn’t make it to the door at that time.”  
“Why not?”  
“He grabbed me by my hair and threw me down on the ground, then he went over to the door and locked it. I had my cell phone, but it was in my purse, and he was between me and my purse. He started walking back toward me, and I kind of was crawling backward. I was really scared. I looked at the phone on the floor, but I knew I couldn’t use it. He saw me look at it and said, ‘Who are you going to call now bitch?’ He picked up the broken phone and he….he threw it down hard on the top of my head. I started crying and that seemed to make him madder. He grabbed me by the front of my shirt with one hand and picked up the phone with the other. He threw me back on the bed, then grabbed me by a handful of my hair. He yelled at me, asking me again who I was going to call. Then he hit me on the side of my head.”  
Harold paused, then asked, “He hit you? But how did he hit you? You said he had the phone in one hand and a handful of your hair in the other. How could he have hit you?”  
“Because he hit me on the side of the head with the broken phone.” She unconsciously fingered the scar she now had on the side of her head, hidden by her hair.

Turning to the jury, Harold repeated, “The defendant, Steve Murphy, hit her, Kai Porter both on the top of her head and on the left side of the head, with a heavy, broken phone.” He grabbed the photo of the phone he had shown them earlier and showed it to the jury again. “A phone just like this. He hit this small woman in the head with this, twice.” Going into the evidence box, he pulled out a large package. It was a sealed clear bag containing the large phone. “The police took this into evidence just hours later. This is the phone they recovered from Kai’s room. It had fingerprints from both Kai and Steve on it. It also had strands of Kai’s hair in it. I’m going to let you pass this around the jury box. I ask that you do not remove it from the bag, as you can clearly see that it is stained with blood. It was tested and is indeed Kai’s blood. Please take note of how heavy this phone is. He threw this heavy phone down on the top of the head of this woman who is much smaller than he is, then he used it again, across the side of her head. I want you all to think of the kind of person that would do that.”


	25. Chapter 25

Harold went back into the evidence box and pulled out a photo, showing it to Kai. “Is this photo familiar to you, Kai?”  
It was the picture of her head wound from the phone, taken at the hospital.  
“Yes sir. That’s me at the hospital. They took photos of my injuries. You can also see where he slapped me, there’s a handprint on my cheek. The bleeding on my temple is from him hitting the side of my head with the phone. I needed stitches.”  
Harold showed the photo to the judge, then walked it over to Corey and Steve, but neither of them bothered to look. Walking it over to the jury, he said, “I want you all to notice something. Neither Steve Murphy nor his lawyer Corey Miller would look at this picture just now. Something else, when you look at this photo, look not just at the wound, but at Kai’s face. There is still fear on that woman’s face, even though she was safely in a hospital with police officers. She was still afraid,” he said, turning and pointing at Steve, “afraid of that man right there! That man who beat her and refused to look at a photo of the injuries he caused!”  
As the jurors passed the photo along, some of them shook their heads in disgust.

Harold turned back to Kai. “What happened after he hit you with the phone?”  
“He grabbed me by the throat and was screaming at me, asking why I didn’t love him, that all of his girlfriends had loved him, that they all cried when he left. He seemed to be losing it. So I told him that he was right, we needed to talk, that we could work this all out, that everything was going to be ok.”  
“Were you planning on ‘working it out’, as you said?”  
“God no,” Kai said. “I couldn’t be with him. But I thought that maybe I could calm him down. Maybe I could get him to go to sleep or maybe order room service or something to get help or keep him talking all night if I had to. I was trying to just think of a way out.”  
“Did it work? Did any of those ideas work?”  
“No sir, they didn’t.”  
“What happened next?”  
“He let go of my neck, which was good. But then he grabbed me by my hair again, with his left hand. He slapped me full force with his right hand on my left cheek, then backhanded me on my right.”  
Harold walked back to the evidence box and pulled out another photo, again showing it to the judge, and to Corey and Steve. Steve barely glanced at it, and Corey waved it away, as if it were an annoying fly at a picnic.  
Holding up the previous photo, he said, “As Kai pointed out before, you can clearly see the handprint on her cheek. This was taken at least two hours after her assault, but you can still clearly see the red handprint. How hard do you think you'd have to hit someone to leave a red handprint hours later? In this second picture, you can see the swelling and bruising on her opposite cheek from being backhanded by that coward,” Harold said, pointing again to Steve. “And again, I want you to look past that bruise. Look at her tear-stained face and the fear in her eyes.”  
The jury passed the photo around and again, Kai saw people shaking their heads. Some of them looked at her, then back at the photo, as if to assure themselves that yes, this was the same girl.  
Harold looked at Kai, then said, “Kai, what happened after he hit you like that?”  
Kai had done her best not to cry up to this point, but the tears spilled over. Harold handed her a box of tissues, telling her, “I know this is very hard, but please, Kai. Tell these ladies and gentlemen of the jury what happened to you next.”  
Kai glanced over at the jurors. Some were stone faced, but some were sympathetic.   
Wiping her eyes, she said, “It was horrible. He just kept screaming at me that he loved me. I couldn’t understand why he would hurt me if he loved me. I tried to tell him that I still loved him too, I was still hoping he’d stop hurting me. He was still holding me by my hair and he kind of threw me back on the bed like this,” she said, putting her hand on her head and demonstrating. “Then he reached down under my arms and kind of hoisted me up on the bed properly. I’d been kind of laying across it. He turned me so my head was on the pillow….” she trailed off, and another flood of tears came at the memory. Harold looked at her, and she could practically hear him saying, “Keep going.”   
The judge asked her, “Miss Porter, would you like to take a recess?”  
“No, your honor. I can continue.” She wiped her eyes and took a shaky breath.  
“He put me on the bed where my head was on the pillow,” she repeated. “Then he said he’d show me how much he loved me. I was wearing this sweatshirt that I had cut a little notch in the neck so it would fit better, and some yoga pants. And he straddled me. He said he’d show me how much he loved me…” she repeated. “He….he ripped my sweatshirt open, all the way down. And then he...he pulled my bra down, um….” Kai looked down at her hands in her lap again. ‘Get it together, girl,’ she thought to herself. ‘It’s almost over.’  
“He uh...he pulled my bra down...did I already say that?” she asked.  
“Yes, you did, Kai,” Harold assured her. “It’s fine. What happened after he pulled your bra down?”  
“Steve...he uh...he started groping my breasts really hard.”  
“Just one moment, Kai,” Harold said. He pulled another photo out of the evidence box, showing it to the judge, Corey and Steve, and then giving it to the jury. “You can see how hard he groped her by the finger marks on her breasts in this photo.” He passed a photo of Kai’s bruised breasts with her own hands concealing her nipples for her dubious modesty.  
“Alright, Kai. We’re almost done. I know this is unbelievably traumatizing for you, but please continue,” Harold told her.  
“I said to him ‘please don’t rape me’, and he actually stopped. I thought it was over, he was coming to his senses. I thought he was done.”  
“But he wasn’t, was he?”  
“No. No he wasn’t. He was still straddling me. He just put his hands around my neck and started squeezing. I couldn’t breathe. I knew he was going to kill me-”  
Suddenly, Corey Miller jumped up and shouted out, “I object! She states she ‘knew’ he was going to kill her. She knew nothing of the sort! She is alive and well!”  
“Your honor,” Harold said, “this is what she believed at the time. That she was going to die. I don’t think that should be minimized.”  
The judge presided for a moment then said, “Very well, I’ll allow it.”  
Corey let out an annoyed breath and dropped down loudly and dramatically in his chair.  
“Go on, Kai,” Harold said.  
“I really believed he was going to kill me,” Kai paraphrased. “So I tried to fight him off. I was hitting at his arms with everything I had: punching, slapping, scratching. But it was like he didn’t even feel it. It didn’t even make him flinch. I was trying to say ‘no’ and ‘stop’, but nothing was coming out. So I reached out to my sides, feeling for anything I could find. On one side all I had was another pillow. I thought if I grabbed that, he might smother me. On the other hand I was reaching all over the nightstand for anything. Then I felt the hotel pen. I grabbed it as tight as I could,” she said, making a fist with her left hand. “I knew I only had one chance, and I’m right handed, not left, but this was all I had. I held it tight, and I stabbed him in his right shoulder with it, as hard as I could.”  
“Did it penetrate his shoulder?”  
“Yes it did. He started bleeding all over the place.”  
Harold walked over to the evidence box again, and pulled out a torn sweatshirt and bra, with blood stains on them. “Kai, is this your sweatshirt and brassiere you were wearing?”  
Kai turned pink at her bra being put on display. She knew it would be, they had taken all of her clothes into evidence, later returning her pants and panties.  
“Yes, that’s my….those are my things.”  
Holding them up for everybody, Harold said, “You can see there are blood stains on her clothes. They have been tested, some of the blood is hers from her head wound, and some is Steve’s. Kai, what did Steve do after you stabbed him?”  
“He kind of rolled off me, yelling and grabbed his shoulder.”  
“And what did you do?”  
“I got the hell out of dodge,” she said, causing some smiles and chuckles from the gallery at her colorful statement. “I jumped up and ran out of there, barefoot. I grabbed my purse on the way, unlocked the door and took off down the hall. I was going to take the stairs down, even though I was 9 floors up, but as I got closer to the elevator, the doors opened and some people got off, so I got on and pushed the button for the lobby. Just as the doors were closing, I heard Steve yell at me. He yelled, ‘Kai get back here’ but there was no way I was going back. The doors closed and I remember thinking that it was going too slow. I was afraid that he would go down the stairs and maybe stop it before I got to the lobby. I’ve never been so scared.”  
“Did he catch you?”  
“No, but I held my keyring with my keys poking out between my fingers. I wasn’t going down without a fight. The doors opened at the lobby, and I ran out.”  
“Did you ask for help in the lobby from the hotel staff?”  
“No, I did not.”  
“But why not?”  
“I thought that if he got to me in the lobby, no matter how many people were there to see it, he’d kill me. All I could think of was getting away. So I ran out to my car. I stepped on some broken glass at some point, but I just kept going. I got to my car, and when I did, I saw Steve’s silver Camaro parked nearby. Drunk or not, he drove. I looked in my backseat to see if he was hiding in my car. He wasn’t, so I opened the doors and got in and immediately locked it. I put on my seatbelt with one hand while I started the car with the other. I had no idea what to do or where to go, my only thought was to get away. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I looked in my rear view mirror, and I saw Steve. He was standing at the door of the hotel with a towel on his arm, and he saw me.”  
Kai was still crying, but just kept wiping her eyes with tissues and continued. “I pulled out onto Sunset, but I was afraid he’d get in his car and come after me, so I got off the boulevard as soon as I could and just started driving down some side streets. I stopped and plugged in my phone and used voice commands to call my friend Balthazar. I asked him if I could come over right now. It was the only place I could think of to go. He said yes. I drove over, and as soon as I got there, I told him to call the police, that I had just stabbed Steve. He brought me into the house and called them and they were there in 10 minutes, Officer Casey and Officer Russo. I told them everything that I just told you. They convinced me to go to the hospital and told me that I would have a guard. Before we left though, Steve called me.”   
“Your honor,” Harold said, “Officer Casey recorded the entire interview with Miss Porter. When Steve called, Kai was instructed to answer it on speaker and tell him that she was recording the call. If it pleases the court, I would like to play that portion of the tape.”  
“Please proceed,” the judge said. Harold set up a tape recorder with a microphone and pressed play.  
You could hear Kai’s voice say, “I’m recording this call. What-” Then Steve roaring angrily at her, “I DON’T GIVE FUCK! Where are you? This isn’t over, bitch!”  
“I’m at the L.A.P.D. headquarters.”  
“GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THERE, NOW! You stabbed me, you fucking whore!”  
“You were strangling me!”  
“You think that was bad? When I get my hands on you, you'll wish I’d finished the job! I’m coming down to the L.A.P.D. right now! If you aren’t outside in 5 minutes, you’ll be sorry!”   
You could hear him hang up, then Officer Casey noting the date and time, and saying, “To confirm, we are NOT at L.A.P.D. headquarters, we are at the home of a private citizen.”

Kai had her head down as she listened and was crying, remembering her fear.   
Harold paused and handed Kai another tissue from the box. He looked at his yellow legal pad and said, “His exact words were ‘When I get my hands on you, you’ll wish I’d finished the job’. That ‘job’ was trying to strangle her to death. Kai, how tall are you?”  
“About 5 foot 4.”  
“And I know you should never ask a woman about her weight,” he said with a smile, “but approximately how much do you weigh?”  
“About 110, last time I checked.”  
Looking back at his legal pad, Harold said, “According to information readily available online, Steve Murphy is 5 foot 10, and weighs 175 pounds. He has 6 inches and over 60 pounds on her. He attacked her unprovoked. Oh wait, I’m sorry,” Harold said dramatically. “He attacked her because she BROKE UP with him! He attacked her because he LOVED her, as he kept saying! What kind of person does that?” he stalked over to Steve Murphy, stood in front of him and pointed at him with his legal pad. “This kind of person. This one right here. This person who has an ego that could fill up this room and then some. This person attacks women. This person needs to be stopped. I have no further questions for this witness your honor.”

The judge said, “I'm going to call recess for the day. Mr. Miller, you may question Miss Porter tomorrow. Miss Porter, you may step down. Court is adjourned until tomorrow at 9 a.m.” She banged her gavel as Kai stepped down. The reporters ran out, and Kai was ushered out of the side door by Harold.

She never once looked at Steve.

And he was furious.


	26. Chapter 26

They got out of the court house as soon as possible, and it was still a madhouse outside. Even more so since there had been no recording devices allowed in the courtroom. She had microphones shoved in her face every step of the way, asking stupid questions like “Did you really think you were going to die?” and “Do you still love Steve?” She didn’t say a word. Balty and Harold made a protective cocoon around her and hustled her out to the waiting car while police pushed back reporters, fans, and anyone else unfortunate enough to get caught in the fray.  
She was exhausted and upset at having to relive everything all over again in detail. And she knew she would have to do it all over again the next day.  
They drove home in silence.  
Balthazar helped her out of the car and upstairs to the bedroom, where he helped her change as if she was going to bed. “You look exhausted,” he remarked. “Thanks, that’s a shitty thing to say,” she snapped. Immediately, she apologized. “I’m sorry. I AM exhausted. I just want to cry because I'm so tired.”  
“Look, why don’t you just relax and I’ll bring you up something to eat.”

Downstairs he heated up some spaghetti and veggies for her, and a nice glass of wine. Placing everything on a lap tray, he walked it upstairs. When he walked in the room, her eyes were glued to the TV, and a news report was on. It was a clip of her leaving the courtroom, and the news reporter was saying, “An anguished-looking Kai Porter left the courtroom today after her first full day of testimony in her attempted murder case against ex-boyfriend Steve Murphy.” It switched to a courtroom drawing of her on the stand crying. “Her lawyer, Harold Xavier, presented evidence against Steve, including a bloody telephone that they allege he beat Kai with, photos of her wounds from the hospital, and her own blood stained sweater from the night of the reported attack.”   
Then they showed Steve.

He emerged from the courthouse smirking, telling reporters, “Kai won’t comment, but I will.” All the cameras were on him as he said, “It’s all lies, and her case is already falling apart.” A reporter asked him, “What about the threatening tone of the letter your lawyer sent to hers during recess and the recording of the phone call where you told her you would ‘finish the job’?” Steve’s smirk disappeared and he said, “No comment.”  
Then it happened.  
Kai saw it like it was in slow motion. A fast food drink container flew through the air and hit him right in the chest, splattering all over his shirt and face, and splattering a bit on a few reporters in the process, but he definitely got the worst of it...  
He was suddenly wearing someone’s chocolate milkshake.

Kai was in shock for a moment, then burst into laughter. She couldn't help it. She certainly wouldn’t encourage that kind of behavior, but after his asinine remarks, he kind of deserved it. Steve shouted out, “WHAT THE FUCK???” as he stood there dripping chocolate everywhere. The best part was that every single news station caught it all on video, forever and ever. Corey Miller shouted out, “Who did that?” Then turned to the officers present, who were trying to hide their amusement, and said, “Find out who threw that! I want them arrested for assault!” The crowd started chanting “Cancel Steve Murphy!” Corey then hustled Steve into a car and they left.

Balty had almost dropped the tray he was holding when he saw that. It was just so random. “They are never going to find out who threw that drink!” he told Kai.   
Kai was on the bed, literally rolling, with tears flowing down her cheeks. It was quite a few minutes before she was able to regain her composure.  
She had finally calmed down just as Harold called her. “Kai, I don’t know if you saw what happened to Steve on the news-” he was cut off by Kai erupting into peals of laughter all over again. Chuckling himself, he said, “I’ll take that as a yes.”  
“Did they find out who did it?” she asked.  
“As far as I know, they didn’t,” he said. “Corey Miller was bitching about how some news cameras had to have caught it, but they only have a general direction, there were so many people, and Steve was so concerned with having all the cameras on him and bad mouthing you that no one is really sure. I know I’ve been telling you to not say anything coming or going from the court house, but on the way in tomorrow, please do. Just that you don’t condone it, and for people to please refrain from doing that going forward, et cetera. But yeah, it was unexpected. And whoever threw it had great aim,” Harold chuckled some more. 

Kai slept better that night, the milkshake incident and the resulting laughter had helped release a lot of tension she didn’t realize she was holding. They woke the next morning and headed to court. As she got out of the car, a reporter shoved a microphone in her face saying, “Were you aware that yesterday after you left court, someone threw a chocolate milkshake at Steve Murphy, hitting him in the chest?” Kai turned to the reporter and said, “Yes, I saw it and I would like to address it. I would like to ask my fans to please refrain from doing things like that. I am willing to trust the justice system, and I ask that they do so as well. I would like to extend my apologies to Steve for that, as well as the people nearby who also ended up with some of the mess on them. I would also like to offer to pay for the dry cleaning for his clothes and any of the reporters who need it.” Harold was impressed, that was a classy move.  
Steve was inside watching the live news feed. That fucking woman! If she thought she was going to come out of this smelling like a rose, she was wrong. He had remembered something she had told him that they could use to upset her: her father had been an alcoholic.

The day started much as it had the day before. Kai was called to the witness stand, and Corey Miller approached her.  
“Good morning, Miss Porter. May I call you Kai?”  
“Good morning, Mr. Miller. And yes, I prefer it.”  
“Tell me, Kai. Did you hear about a fan of yours throwing a milkshake at Steve yesterday?”  
“I did, and I am not happy about that. I apologize to Steve on behalf of whoever did it, and I am willing to pay for his dry cleaning, as well as that of any reporters who got splashed.”  
“That’s very nice of you.”  
“It’s the right thing to do,” she replied.  
Corey Miller went back over her relationship with Steve and the breakup, just to refresh the minds of the jury, asking Kai for clarification on a few minor points. He then asked, “Was Steve drinking the night you met him?”  
“Yes, but everyone was. It was a party”  
“But you claimed to not know he was ‘a drinker’ until you started to date.”  
“There’s a difference between having a drink at a social event and being a drinker.”  
“Did you have a drink that night, Kai?”  
“Yes, I did.”  
“How many drinks did you have?”  
“Just one. A glass of white wine.”  
“Are you sure it was just one?”  
“Positive. I adhere to the ‘one and done’ rule.”  
“That’s a good rule. Your father was an alcoholic, guess he didn’t adhere to that rule, did he?”  
“Excuse me?” Kai asked, shocked.  
Harold stood up, saying, “Your honor, I object. Her father, no matter if he drank or not, is NOT on trial here! Steve Murphy is!”  
The judge said, “Sustained. Mr. Miller, stick to questions pertaining to this trial. Her father is irrelevant.”  
“Yes your honor,” he said, then turning to Kai, “sorry I brought up your drunk, dead daddy.”  
Before Harold could even object, Judge Cameron banged her gavel. “Mr. Miller, one more comment like that, and I will hold you in contempt!”  
Holding up his hands in surrender, he said, “Yes, your honor,” although he was smirking.  
Harold said, “Your honor, I would like that portion of his comments pertaining to her father stricken from the record.”  
The judge agreed, telling the jury, “Please disregard those comments.” Turning to the court reporter, she said, “Strike everything after Miss Porter’s comment ‘one and done’.”  
Kai couldn’t believe what a scumbag lawyer this guy was. Judging by the faces of the people on the jury, they weren’t impressed with him either.  
Corey Miller and Steve Murphy were two of a kind: sure that they would always win no matter what, that things would always go their way.  
Corey made Kai repeat parts of the attack. Asking her, “You say he ripped the phone cord out of the wall. Are you sure?”  
Kai responded, “Yes. If you pull the phone back out, you will see that the cord is frayed.”   
Then asking her, “You allege that he hit you with the hotel phone. Is it possible that you tripped and hit your head on the phone?”  
“No, sir. I would have had to fall twice: once on top of my head, and once on the side of my head. I don’t think it’s possible to trip and fall literally on the top of your head.”  
Corey even tried to make her look bad. “So tell me, Kai, how do we know Steve was really in that room? How do we know that you didn’t pick up somebody? Maybe you picked up some random guy in a bar, brought him back to the hotel for a little fun, and things got out of hand. Rather than anyone think you have less than this sweet reputation, you blamed Steve!”  
“Steve was in that room, sir. His DNA was all over it, all over me, and all over the bed that he attacked me on! It’s in the police report! His fingerprints were on the phone, on the doorknob, and on me! Nobody else’s DNA or fingerprints, just his and mine! And as for me ‘picking up’ some guy randomly, once I checked into that hotel earlier in the day, I didn’t have any visitors until Steve scammed his way up there, and I never left until after Steve attacked me!” Kai remembered how Harold had told her not to offer anything, and looked at him. But Harold had a small smile and gave her a slight nod. Even though she’d basically had an emotional outburst, it was all true, and verifiable through records.   
Had Corey Miller done any work at all? He was looking through his papers, shuffling them about, like he didn’t know any of this information. This had all been readily available before the trial, as per law. He just kept flipping through his yellow legal pad, then opened a folder on the table looking through some papers inside it.  
That’s when it hit Kai: he was unprepared.   
What kind of lawyer was this guy?  
Judge Cameron finally asked him, “Mr. Miller, do you have any more questions for Miss Porter?”  
“Yes, I do. Kai, look at Steve,” he demanded.  
“No.” She had avoided looking at Steve, she didn’t want to start now.  
“Why not? What are you afraid of? He obviously can’t hurt you in this courtroom. Or is it that you can’t look at him because this whole story is a lie?” he shouted.  
“I’m not lying!” Kai shouted back. “You want me to look at him, fine, I’ll look!” Kai said, turning her gaze to Steve.  
And that was when she saw him, really, truly SAW him. He was a pathetic man, with a cheap lawyer who didn’t do his homework, watching everything fall apart in front of him. And he had the audacity to shoot daggers at Kai. Kai held his gaze, and said, “I’ll look at you, I’m not afraid. But you make me sick.” Turning back to Corey, she said, “There. I looked at him. Any other stupid human tricks you’d like me to do?”  
He was flustered, unsure of what to do. He started shuffling papers again. The judge asked him again, “Do you have any further questions for this witness?”  
“Um…” more shuffling of papers. “No, no more questions at this time your honor. But I would like the right to re-question her later if I feel the need arises.”  
“Yes, of course,” the judge told him. Then turning to Kai, “You may step down now, Miss Porter.”

Walking back over to the table, Kai sat down next to Harold and whispered, “His lawyer hasn’t done any work! He’s completely unprepared!”  
“Yeah, not surprised. He wants notoriety, doesn’t matter if he wins or not.”  
The judge said, “Mr. Xavier, call your next witness.”  
“Your honor, I would like to call to the stand Mrs. Nicole Tyler.”


	27. Chapter 27

Steve looked confused. Who the hell was Nicole Tyler?

Nicole walked in from the gallery up to the stand, was sworn in and sat down. Steve thought she looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her. He had a bad feeling about it, however.

Harold approached the stand. “Good morning Nicole.”  
She smiled at him, saying, “Good morning, Mr. Xavier.”  
“Nicole, do you know the defendant, Steve Murphy?”  
“Yes, sir, I do.”  
“How do you know him?”  
“We dated about 10 years ago.”  
Harold looked over at Steve, who was still confused.  
“Nicole, was your last name always Tyler?”  
“No sir, my maiden name was Henderson.”  
“What do you do for a living?”  
“I’m a dental assistant.”  
“What did you do for a living 10 years ago?”  
“I was an exotic dancer at The Pink Pussycat, and I went by the name Star.”

You could see all the color go right out of Steve’s face. Fucking Star! What goddamn rock did he find her under? Whispering to Corey, he angrily asked, “Did you know she was going to be here?”  
Corey flipped through his file folder. There it was. Nicole Tyler, née Henderson. But he had no idea who she was. Steve had never mentioned her, and Corey quite frankly didn’t feel like checking her out, assuming she was some friend of Kai.   
They were in a lot of trouble.

Harold went into Nicole’s past, working for The Pink Pussycat, happy that she wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed. As she had told Harold when they talked in her kitchen, it was just a job. He asked her how she met Steve, and when they started dating. She again said how he had “swept her off her feet”.

“Nicole, did you and Steve ever fight?”  
“Yes we did.”  
“About what?”  
“Well, we of course had the occasional lovers quarrels about stupid little things here and there, I think every couple does. But then he started to get jealous.”  
“Jealous of what?”  
“Pretty much jealous of other men seeing me topless. I understand, I really do, but that was my job. He knew that when he met me. Hell, that was HOW he met me.”  
“So you fought over your job. Did he ask you to quit?”  
“He didn’t ask me to quit, he told me to. But I said no. I made good money there. Had my own apartment, my own car, everything. And he wanted me to get a ‘normal’ job, as he called it. But all I was qualified for at that time was retail. And I made more in one night dancing than I would make in two weeks at a full time retail job.”  
“So you didn’t quit?”  
“No sir, I did not.”  
“Did the arguments stop?”  
“No they got worse.”  
“Nicole, did the fights between the two of you ever turn physical?”  
“Yes, they did.”

Harold asked her to explain, and she told the story of them fighting and Steve slapping her. “He slapped you in the face?”  
“Yes.”  
“What did you do when he slapped you?”  
“Well, sir, I punched him in the face really, really hard.”  
There was chuckling from the gallery.   
“You punched Steve in the face?” Harold asked.  
“Yes, sir, I did.”  
Nicole recounted briefly about growing up with older brothers, and how they would fight and she learned to fight back.  
“I think that’s pretty typical for anyone with siblings,” Nicole said. “You fight, it’s normal.”  
“Were there other times the fighting between you and Steve got physical?”  
“Yes, one other time.”  
She went on to recount how he backhanded her and she in return broke his nose.  
“You broke his nose?” Harold asked.  
“Yes sir. I ended up with a bruise I had to cover with makeup, but when he backhanded me, my knee jerk reaction was to hit him back. He threatened to call the cops on me.”  
“Let me get this straight,” Harold said, walking over to the table that Steve and Corey sat behind and leaning on it. “Steve Murphy backhanded you during an argument, and you fought back, breaking his nose in the process. Then he threatened you with police action?”  
“That’s exactly what happened. He said he was going to press charges on me for assault. I told him to go ahead, he’d hit me first. I think that was when he realized that he couldn’t scare me. And that no matter how many times he hit me, I’d hit him right back.”  
“And after that fight?”  
“He called me a few days later and told me he didn’t want to see me anymore. And we never contacted each other after that. This is the first time I’ve seen him in person since I broke his nose.”  
“I have no further questions for this client, your honor,” Harold told the judge. Judge Cameron turned to Corey Miller, saying, “Your witness, Mr. Miller.”

Corey Miller struck low. “Have you ever been in pornographic movies, Mrs. Tyler?”  
“Absolutely not!” she said, shocked.  
“Isn’t that typical of some nude dancers, though?” Corey asked. “They take off their clothes for money, it’s not that big of a step-”  
He was cut off by Nicole telling him, “Sir, I was never a ‘nude’ dancer. I was topless. The Pussycat only has topless dancers, never fully nude.”  
“Is there really any difference?” he asked her dismissively.  
“Would you rather be in this courtroom naked or with just your shirt off?” Nicole asked him.   
“Well, Mrs. Tyler, I’m not on trial here-”  
“And neither am I,” she replied. “You are defending the person on trial, he’s not the victim, and we all know it. For the record, I was a topless dancer, and I have never in my life done any kind of amateur or professional acting, pornographic or otherwise.”  
“Yes well,” Corey said, flustered by this girl who didn’t give a damn about Steve and was unafraid. “Are you being paid to be here today by Kai Porter, her attorney Harold Xavier, or her ‘friend’ Balthazar Getty?”  
“Absolutely not. I have never met Kai or Balthazar in person, I’ve only talked to Mr. Xavier twice before today, and I have never been offered any compensation in any form. I drove here in my own car with gas that I paid for myself.”  
“You know that this will give you some notoriety...would you like to get into acting? Is that why you are doing this?”  
“I have no desire to be an actress, I am a wife, a mother, and a dental hygienist. I am perfectly happy being those things. I’m not thrilled about any notoriety that may come with this. The only reason I am here is because maybe if I’d come forward all those years ago, nobody else would have gotten hurt. Maybe Kai wouldn’t have had to go through what she went through. Maybe nobody would have.” Looking over at Kai, she said, “I am truly sorry about all of it.” Corey Miller was flustered. He had nothing. This woman wasn’t getting paid, she didn’t want her name out there, she just wanted to make dinner for her family and clean people’s teeth. How could she not want something? Didn’t everybody? Nicole wasn’t afraid and didn’t give a damn. She wasn’t one of those girls that Steve had claimed he could silence with a dirty look.  
Corey didn’t know what else to say, so he said, “No further questions, your honor.”


	28. Chapter 28

The judge called a one hour recess for lunch after Nicole’s testimony.   
“Jesus, Harold,” Kai said sitting down. “Steve’s lawyer is so unprepared. I don’t think he spoke to any of the witnesses, he didn’t even know who Nicole was.”  
“I know, it’s pathetic,” Harold agreed. “If he HAD done his work, he could have delayed the trial by months or even years, just so he could try to dig up dirt on the witnesses. He is really flying by the seat of his pants, and that seat is catching fire.”  
As they finished lunch, Harold got a call on his cell. “Perfect, your name is on the docket, I know you’re busy, but don’t worry, I don’t think this will take long. His lawyer is….a piece of work. See you soon.” Turning to Kai, he told her, “Missy Gannon is here.”

They went back in and Harold called Missy Gannon to the stand. He noticed the hateful look Steve shot her, and how she ignored it. Good girl.  
She told the story of how they met at her first restaurant, and how he asked her out. Harold asked, “Would you say he swept you off your feet?”  
“Oh he definitely did,” she agreed.  
Missy went on to tell about how Steve wanted her to abandon her restaurant dream, and be there for him at his beck and call. She went on to tell the story about how she decided to leave him and how he beat her and threatened her career. How she went to the hospital but wouldn’t talk to the police because she was afraid. Steve sat back in his chair with a smirk at that.

Harold produced documents, magazine articles and pictures of them together, proving the timeline. Then a magazine article where Steve admitted that they broke up “one week ago today, actually”.  
He repeated that line. “He states in print that they broke up ‘one week ago today’. The interviewer asks him, ‘So as of September 5, you’ve been officially single?’ And it says right here,” he said, reading from the article, “‘Steve gave me a sexy, sly smile, and told me, “Yes. Are you single?” Such a flirt!’”  
Turning to Missy, he said, “Missy, when did he beat you? Do you remember the exact date?”  
“It was the afternoon of September 4.”  
“How can you be sure?”  
“Because I took pictures of my injuries. My digital camera date and time stamped all the photos I took.”

Corey Miller watched in disbelief as Harold Xavier pulled a small packet of photos out of the evidence box. Then he yelled, “Your honor, I object to those photos! I demand they be disallowed!”  
The judge looked at the docket before her. “Mr. Miller, when Harold Xavier presented a list of evidence, you objected then, on the grounds that you hadn’t seen them. I ruled that you would be allowed to examine all the evidence. If you had a problem after examining it and objected then, I would have ruled.” She flipped through her papers. “It seems as though you never followed through and asked to examine the evidence. Is that correct Mr. Miller?”  
Corey Miller knew he was busted. “Well, your honor, I was very busy talking to my client and preparing his case…” he trailed off.  
“Mr. Miller, the items in those boxes ARE his case. If you couldn’t bother to prepare properly, that’s your problem, not the problem of this court. You had adequate time to prepare, and if you felt you didn’t, you could have asked for an extension, but you didn’t. As it is, I am overruling your objection to this and any other evidence. You had your chance to prepare or extend for this trial, Mr. Miller, and you didn’t. That is your own fault.”  
Steve wanted to strangle Corey. Hadn’t he done ANY work? Since they were already on trial, he couldn’t do anything about it now. 

Harold pulled out Missy’s photos along with her hospital report and passed them around to the jury. The photos showed Missy a bit younger, with much shorter hair. “I have no further questions for this client, your honor.”  
“Your witness, Mr. Miller,” the judge stated.

He approached Missy at the stand, and as he did with Kai, clarified her relationship with Steve. Then he asked, “Miss Gannon, isn’t it possible that those pictures are fake? That you did that with makeup?”  
“No, sir. The hospital report shows that they did indeed treat me. If my injuries were fake and done with makeup, I think they would have noticed that.”  
“Isn’t it possible that someone else did that to you?”  
“I don’t know how. All I did was run my restaurant and date Steve.”  
“Isn’t it possible that you forged the time and date stamps on the photos?”  
Missy looked confused. “Can you do that? Look all I know is how to run a restaurant, not forge photos. I don’t have time for that nonsense.”  
“Missy, are your restaurants popular?”  
“Very much so.”  
“Isn’t part of the reason because of Steve?”  
“Steve did mention my first restaurant when we were dating, and some celebrities showed up because he did. Honestly, for that I am very grateful.” She paused then continued. “But I only had one restaurant at the time. If the food was bad, no matter who I was dating, it wouldn’t have succeeded. As it stands, I have two restaurants now, and am planning to open a third next year.”   
“But this trial will give you notoriety, and you know it!” Corey Miller shouted. “It will only help you!”  
“How?” Missy shouted right back. “By letting the world know that I was so afraid of him,” she said angrily, “that I never came forward when he hurt me? That I didn’t do what I should have done because he threatened me? Do you think I want that as my legacy? You are so wrong.”

Kai didn’t know Missy, but just from her saying what she did, she liked her.

“Honestly, sir,” Missy continued. “If your strategy is to claim every witness just wants notoriety, well, for once I feel sorry for Steve.”  
Corey Miller didn’t know what to say to that. He turned away from the witness stand to see that Kai, Harold, Balthazar, and just about everyone in the gallery was smiling. He turned to look at his client.  
Steve wasn’t smiling.

Walking back to the table, he muttered, “No further questions your honor.”

The judge told Missy to step down. “Call your next witness, Mr Xavier.”

Harold called another ex-girlfriend of Steve’s to the stand, Bianca Cook, who had been an up-and-coming actress. Her story was similar to all those that had gone before her: stories of Steve sweeping her off her feet, his drinking and jealousy, the abuse, and the threats. And how after it was all over, she couldn’t get any work.  
“Are you still employed as an actress now?” he asked her.  
“Yeah, but I’m not in the best movies. A lot of direct-to-video stuff. Nothing x-rated or anything,” she was quick to add. “Just low budget films. But you know, a girl’s gotta eat and pay the bills.”  
“I understand completely,” Harold told her sympathetically.

When Corey Miller questioned her, he tried to throw her low budget movies in her face, again claiming notoriety. Saying she was just a “failed actress” who was hoping to get her name back out there. Bianca looked at him, saying simply, “Wow, is that really the best you can do? Attack my career that he destroyed? Let me ask YOU a question, Mr. Miller. Can you name the women who filed suit against Bill Cosby? Can you name even one?” When Corey Miller hemmed and hawed, Bianca said, “Then it’s safe to say no one will remember me, either. Some people don’t do things for fame or notoriety, sir. Some people do things because they are the right things to do.”

Harold then called another ex to the stand, Jodi Lewis. She had also been an up-and-coming actress. Harold asked her, “What do you do for a living now, Miss Lewis?”  
She paused then said, “I’m a bartender at the Shot Spot. It’s down on Hollywood Boulevard, past the touristy section. But sometimes, every couple of years or so, I get invited to do a convention. That gives me a little more money.”  
Her story went the same: dating, abuse, threats, no work.  
Again, Corey tried to claim notoriety. “Absolutely not,” Jodi said. “I’m a nobody now, just a footnote. I’m a bartender who got to be in a few movies. I wouldn’t even do the conventions if I didn’t get paid. All it does is remind me of how close I was until I dated Steve.”  
Kai’s heart broke for this girl. Steve did his best to ruin lives, not caring what happened afterward. He did their best to take away their very livelihoods, and in some cases, he succeeded. 

After Jodi was done, judge Cameron declared recess for the weekend. “This court is in recess until Monday at 9 a.m. Mr. Xavier, you may call your next witness then.”


End file.
